2011-12 VMI BASKETBALL KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES KEYDET BASKETBALL GAME NOTES Keydets Play Host to Radford Saturday Night VMI Seeks Eighth Win at Home with 8 P.M. Start VMI basketball returns to action Saturday, as the Keydets seek their 12th straight win at Cameron Hall in bat- tling the Radford Highlanders. Game time is set for 8 p.m., and the contest will be shown on the Mid-Atlantic VMI (8-9, 3-4) Sports Network. vs. Radford (3-15, 0-6) Saturday, January 14 - 8 p.m. ET The Keydets enter off a 71-57 win over Liberty on Tuesday evening, a game in which Stan Okoye scored 16 sec- ond-half points (18 overall) to spark VMI’s win. The 57 points allowed was the lowest against a conference oppo- Cameron Hall nent since Feb. 14, 2005. Lexington, Va. RADIO- 96.7 3WZ Lexington Last Meeting with Radford (2/12/11) INTERNET- Live Audio and Stats online at Nick Gore scored eight straight points to spark a 27-5 second half run, and the VMI Keydets overcame early www.wrel.com and shooting woes to top the Radford Highlanders, 71-58, in Big South basketball action Feb. 12 at Cameron Hall. www.VMIKeydets.com. After the score was tied at halftime, Radford opened the second half on a 6-1 run. Gore answered with an TV/Video- Live on MASN and www.big- old-fashioned three-point play with 17:17 to play, and after a Highlander three-pointer gave the visitors their southsports.com biggest lead of the night, Gore tallied the next five points to keep the Keydets close. VMI was able to tie it on a Michael Sparks three-pointer with 13:40 remaining, and Austin Kenon hit a triple 1:30 later to give the Keydets the Tale Of The Tape lead for good. VMI RU A Win over Radford Would: 84.9 Points Per Game 58.9 Would be VMI’s third straight win over the Highlanders. 86.3 Points Allowed 67.6 46.2% Field Goal % 35.7% Would mark VMI’s 12th straight home win, pulling the team to within one of the second-best home run in pro- gram history. The Keydets have won 13 straight games at home twice, streaks that ran from Feb. of 1995 through 49.1% FG % Allowed 44.1% Feb. of 1996 and from Dec. of 1989 through Jan. of 1991 respectively. 30.8% 3-Point FG % 29.2% 8.7 3-Pt. FG Per Game 6.5 Make the Keydets 8-0 at home this season, as they would remain one of only a handful of Division I teams to be perfect at home and winless on the road (see page 2) 70.3% Free Throw % 64.4% 14.9 Assists Per Game 9.9 12.8 Turnovers Per Game 13.6 8.8 Steals Per Game 6.7 Probable Starters *=Blocks Per Game Pos. # Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pts. Reb. Ast. Stl. Notes G 1 Rodney Glasgow So. 5-10 170 7.4 1.9 3.5 1.0 Nine points, four rebounds vs. Presbyterian (12/31) F 11 Stan Okoye Jr. 6-5 205 17.2 6.0 2.2 1.7 18 points against Liberty (1/10), including 16 in second half F 15 Ron Burks Sr. 6-4 215 9.6 4.1 3.4 0.8 19 points, eight rebounds vs. Gardner-Webb (1/2) G 21 Keith Gabriel Sr. 6-4 185 16.7 3.4 1.8 2.0 Equaled career-high with 34 points against ODU (12/22), 21 points at #3 OSU C 24 D.J. Covington So. 6-9 235 3.8 2.3 0.4* 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 4.8 1.9 0.6 1.5 Returned to action at Asheville (1/5) after missing GWU game due to injury G 3 Brian Brown Fr. 5-11 185 1.3 0.8 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 5.6 2.8 1.6 0.6 Career-high six assists at ODU (12/22) G 31 Michael Sparks Sr. 6-4 195 8.7 2.5 0.2 0.5 Team-leading 19 points versus Milligan (12/10), also scored 19 at UNCA (1/5) 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 2.3 2.5 0.3 0.7* Eight points, four rebounds at UNC Asheville (1/5) F 40 Jordan Weethee Fr. 6-6 220 7.6 2.8 0.8 0.4 Career-high 19 points at Longwood (12/12) G 14 Joe Carr Jr. 6-3 195 - - - - Out for season due to injury Media Schedule/Results (8-99, 3-44 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) 8 p.m. 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: neutral court (Nov. 11 vs. The Citadel at Air Force). In Following their 71-57 win over Liberty on Tuesday, VMI’s away games, excluding the two contests against X Big South Network the Keydets are one of six teams in Division I to be unde- ranked opponents, the Keydets are giving up 93.1 points Fans can view live video of all the feated at home (7-0) and winless on the road (0-9). The per game. When including the losses to Pitt and Ohio Keydets’ home games and all Big South others are Boise State (9-0, 0-5), Florida (10-0, 0-4), SE State, the number jumps to 95.1 PPG. Conference contests, including tourna- Louisiana (6-0, 0-8) and Texas Southern (4-0, 0-11). ment action, online via The Big South Arkansas Pine-Bluff is winless on the road, having posted Okoye on a Roll: Network at www.BigSouthSports.com.