BLACKSBURG – Riding a two-game winning streak, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team will play host to in-state foe VMI on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
The Hokies (8-3) will go up against a team that it played last year in the Keydets (5-7), winning on Dec. 5, 2018 by a score of 89-68. Tech leads the all-time series 92-43 and has won seven straight.
Tech coach Mike Young has seen VMI quite a few times, including three times last year, and is a perfect 12-0, winning all 12 games at Wofford.
The matchup with the Keydets will be broadcast on ACC Network, with Wes Durham (play-by-play) and Dan Bonner (analyst) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Properties.
GAME INFORMATION
Sat. | 4 p.m. ET vs. VMI | Stats | Watch | Radio | Notes
The last time out, Tech defeated Gardner-Webb (4-8) by 27 points (73-46) this past Sunday and got big contributions from its bench, with scoring the second-most points of the season with 34. Four Hokies scored in double figures and Landers Nolley II led the team with a team-best 18 points.
Nolley earned his third ACC Freshman of the Week this past Monday, marking the first time a Hokie has done so since Tech joined the league in 2004-05.
There are only three teams in the nation that have two freshmen that have hit at least 20 3-pointers this season, and the Hokies and Keydets each have a pair. Nolley and Nahiem Alleyne represent Tech and Kamdyn Curfman and Travis Evee rep VMI.
SCOUTING VMI
• The Keydets are coming off a 78-60 victory over Ferrum (4-5), a Division III program, last Wednesday behind Evee racking up 17 points, including three 3-pointers. A 13-0 second-half run led VMI to its third win out of its last four games.
• Dan Earl enters his fifth season as the head coach in Lexington, following his stint at Navy as an associate head coach. A former player at Penn State, Earl coached in State College from 2006-11 with the Nittany Lions.
• VMI is paced by Curfman and his team-high 12.1 points and Evee and his 11.3 points. Curfman, who has already hit 38 triples this season, is shooting 41.3 percent from downtown, while Evee is shooting 41.8 from 3 and has made 28 3s.
• Just like Tech, the Keydets are one of the better shooting teams from beyond the arc in the nation, owning the third-most 3-pointers made per game with 11.3. They also share the ball well and rarely turn it over, owning the fifth-best assist/turnover ratio nationally with a 1.53 mark.
