2011-12 VMI BASKETBALL KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES Keydets to Take on High Point, Campbell VMI Seeks 13th Straight Home Win, First Road Win VMI basketball returns to action Thursday, playing host to High Point at 7 p.m. The Keydets will be seeking their 13th straight win at Cameron Hall, and fans can follow via live stats, audio broadcast VMI (9-9, 4-4) (WREL.com/VMIKeydets.com/3WZ) or the Big South Network video streaming service. Following that game, VMI vs. High Point (7-11, 3-5) hits the road to take on Campbell Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Buies Creek, N.C. Thursday, January 19 - 7 p.m. ET Last Meeting with High Point (2/10/11) Cameron Hall An 18-5 second half run broke open a back and forth game, freshman D.J. Covington had a career-high 20 Lexington, Va. points and the VMI Keydets earned their sixth straight win over the High Point Panthers, 87-74, in Big South bas- RADIO- 96.7 3WZ Lexington ketball action at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va. INTERNET- Live Audio and Stats online at With the game knotted at 41 in the opening moments of the second half, Covington converted two free throws www.wrel.com and to put VMI (13-11, 6-8 Big South) ahead, 43-41, and spark the game-deciding run. www.VMIKeydets.com. TV/Video- Video streaming available at Last Meeting with Campbell (12/9/08) www.bigsouthsports.com Thanks to a 16-0 run to open the second half, the VMI Keydets defeated the Campbell Fighting Camels 88-76 in non-conference action at Cameron Hall. The win moved VMI to 7-2, and continued the Keydets’ best start since 1976-77, when the squad opened the season 22-1. The home squad scored the first 16 points of the second half, as six different players scored in the opening five minutes. The spurt was capped with a Keith Gabriel three-pointer with 15:08 remaining, and Campbell never seriously threatened again. VMI vs. Campbell A Win over High Point Would: Saturday, January 21 - 3:30 p.m. ET Would mark VMI’s 13th straight home win, tying the second-best home run in program history, streaks that ran Pope Convocation Center from Feb. of 1995 through Feb. of 1996 and from Dec. of 1989 through Jan. of 1991 respectively. Buies Creek, N.C. RADIO- 96.7 3WZ Lexington Would be VMI’s seventh straight win over HPU, a run that dates back to March 1, 2008. INTERNET- Live Audio and Stats online at www.wrel.com and A Win over Campbell Would: www.VMIKeydets.com. Would be VMI’s first road win of the year, potentially ending a strange run that has seen the Keydets be one of TV/Video- Video streaming available at only two Division I teams perfect at home and winless on the road (see page 2). www.bigsouthsports.com Probable Starters *=Blocks Per Game Pos. # Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pts. Reb. Ast. Stl. Notes G 1 Rodney Glasgow So. 5-10 170 7.7 1.8 3.4 1.1 12 points, three assists, three steals vs. RU (1/14) F 11 Stan Okoye Jr. 6-5 205 16.9 5.9 2.2 1.7 18 points against Liberty (1/10), including 16 in second half F 15 Ron Burks Sr. 6-4 215 9.3 3.9 3.3 0.8 19 points, eight rebounds vs. Gardner-Webb (1/2) G 21 Keith Gabriel Sr. 6-4 185 17.3 3.7 1.8 2.1 34 points vs. ODU (12/22), 28 points and eight rebounds vs. RU (1/14) C 24 D.J. Covington So. 6-9 235 3.9 2.3 0.5* 0.1 Season-high 33 minutes at WU (1/7), 16 points, eight rebounds Off The Bench Pos. # Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pts. Reb. Ast. Stl. Notes F 2 Quinton Upshur Fr. 6-5 210 4.5 1.9 0.6 1.4 Returned to action at Asheville (1/5) after missing GWU game due to injury G 3 Brian Brown Fr. 5-11 185 1.2 0.7 0.3 0.1 Six points versus Milligan College (12/10), three rebounds versus CPC (12/8) G 4 Christian Burton Fr. 5-10 170 1.0 0.3 - 0.4 Five points in win over Milligan College (12/10) G 5 Drew Absher So. 5-10 170 0.3 0.7 0.2 - Grabbed two rebounds at Ohio State (11/23) F 30 Nick Gore Jr. 6-6 220 5.3 2.7 1.5 0.6 Career-high six assists at ODU (12/22) G 31 Michael Sparks Sr. 6-4 195 8.9 2.6 0.3 0.4 Scored in double figures in 5 straight games (1/2-1/14), 1 of only 2 Keydets to do so C 32 Wayne Whiting Sr. 6-7 240 1.9 0.9 0.3 0.3* Made his first career start at Winthrop (1/7) C 34 Jarid Watson Fr. 6-7 210 2.1 2.4 0.3 0.6* Eight points, four rebounds at UNC Asheville (1/5) F 40 Jordan Weethee Fr. 6-6 220 7.5 2.7 0.8 0.4 Averaging 9 PPG over last two contests, after not scoring in previous three G 14 Joe Carr Jr. 6-3 195 - - - - Has not seen action this season due to injury Media Schedule/Results (9-99, 4-44 Big South) Information Date Opponent (Television) Time/Result Record Key Stats Nov. 11 vs. The Citadel (CBSSN) W, 103-100 1-0 Keydets put six players in double figures, led by Okoye’s 19 X VMI Basketball Contacts Nov. 12 at Air Force L, 65-75 1-1 AFA shoots 62.5% in first half en route to All-Military Classic title Wade Branner, Associate A.D./Athletic Nov. 15 Alice Lloyd W, 101-74 2-1 Keydets force 18 second half turnovers en route to win Communications (Basketball Contact) Nov. 19 UMBC W, 84-79 3-1 Okoye scores 16 in second half, 24 overall to lead VMI Office (540) 464-7515 Nov. 23 at #3 Ohio State L, 74-107 3-2 OSU shoots 67.6% en route to victory Cell (540) 319-1271 Dec. 1 at Coastal Carolina* L, 78-87 3-3 Okoye scores 21 in second half, but Coastal holds on Dec. 3 at Charleston Southern* L, 81-114 3-4 CSU blows open six-point game with second-half run Fax (540) 464-7583 Dec. 6 at #14 Pittsburgh L, 70-97 3-5 Weethee paces Keydets with 18 points Email [email protected] Dec. 8 Central Pennsylvania W, 109-86 4-5 22-5 second half run breaks game open Web www.VMIKeydets.com Dec. 10 Milligan W, 122-73 5-5 VMI shoots 64% and has 61 bench points in rout Press Row Phone (540) 463-6725 Dec. 12 at Longwood L, 89-110 5-6 Longwood hits 20 3’s, Weethee career-high 19 in loss Dec. 22 at Old Dominion L, 73-81 5-7 ODU pulls away late despite Gabriel’s 34 Brad Salois, Associate Athletic Dec. 31 Presbyterian College* W, 78-70 (OT) 6-7 Okoye 27 points, first OT win since 2009 Communications Director (Secondary) Jan. 2 Gardner-Webb* W, 76-72 7-7 Okoye and Burks combine for 44 of VMI’s 76 points Office (540) 464-7015 Jan. 5 at UNC Asheville* L, 85-94 7-8 Asheville puts five in double figures and leads wire-to-wire Cell (940) 642-9865 Jan. 7 at Winthrop* L, 84-91 7-9 Gabriel scores 26, but Winthrop holds off late Keydet rally Email [email protected] Jan. 10 Liberty* (Flames Sports) W, 71-57 8-9 Okoye 16 second-half points, best BSC defensive effort since ‘05 Jan. 14 Radford* (MASN) W, 80-76 9-9 Gabriel’s 28 pts (20 in 2nd half) helps Keydets hold off RU rally Jan. 19 High Point* 7 p.m. John Stark, Assistant Athletic Jan. 21 at Campbell* 3:30 p.m. Communications Director Jan. 26 at Radford* 7 p.m. Office (540) 464-7514 Feb. 2 UNC Asheville* 7 p.m. Cell (570) 809-1946 Feb. 4 Winthrop 1 p.m. Email [email protected] Feb. 9 at Presbyterian College* 7 p.m. Feb. 11 at Gardner-Webb* 7 p.m. X VMIKeydets.com Feb. 14 at Liberty* (ESPN3.com) 7 p.m. The official website of VMI athletics, Feb. 18 ESPN BracketBuster TBA VMIKeydets.com, includes pregame Feb. 23 Charleston Southern* 7 p.m. notes, game and season statistics, Feb. 25 Coastal Carolina 1 p.m. postgame notes and quotes and rele- Feb. 27 - March 3 - Big South Championship - Site TBA vant news releases to the VMI Basketball program. The website is updated daily. Keydets in Rare Company: floor including 42.4% from 3-point range. Entering Thursday’s game with High Point, VMI X Big South Network could be one of two teams in Division I to be winless on Home Is Where The Wins Are: Fans can view live video of all the the road, but perfect at home. The Keydets are 8-0 at Entering the High Point game, the Keydets have Keydets’ home games and all Big South home, but have lost all nine road contests. They join won 12 straight contests at home, one shy of the second- Conference contests, including tourna- Southeastern Louisiana, who will face McNeese State in best run in program history.