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RADFORD, Va. -- Radford makes its return home for the first time since Jan. 4, and marks the one-year anniversary of the Dedmon Center's re-opening, when the Highlanders host VMI on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in a Big South men's basketball matchup.

On Jan. 21, 2009, the teams and site were the same - Radford (9-7, 5-2 Big South) and VMI (5-11, 1-6) met in the first game following renovations to the Dedmon Center. In the 2010 meeting, the circumstances are different – the two teams met in a Big South first-place battle last season, but now Radford sits in second place while VMI is at the bottom of the standings.

Radford went 1-2 on its three-game road trip, with the lone victory coming against Big South first-place team Coastal Carolina last Thursday (62-52).

While the homestand for Radford is short, including Saturday night's affair with Liberty, the Highlanders play four straight on the road (Jan. 25-Feb.2) before finishing the regular season with six of seven games inside the Dedmon Center.

Thursday's matchup is the first between Radford and VMI since March 7, 2009, when the Highlanders punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 108-94 win over the Keydets in the Big South championship game. Radford took two of three from VMI last season, and is 9-4 against the Keydets since they joined the Big South Conference in 2004.

Radford is looking to rebound from a second loss in three games, a 70-55 setback at Charleston Southern on Saturday (Jan. 16). The Buccaneers gave Radford trouble from the 3-point line, making 8 of 15 tries (53 percent), while limiting Art Parakhouski (Minsk, Belarus) to 11 points. Radford got a 14-point performance from Joey Lynch-Flohr (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax), who made 7 of 11 shots from the field, in the loss.

Following Monday's NCAA statistical report, Parakhouski is fourth in scoring average (23.1), third in rebounding average (12.9), second in double-doubles (13) and fourth in field goal percentage (62.2).
As a team, Radford is fifth in the nation in rebounding average (42.5).

VMI, Division I's top scoring team with 89.9 points per contest, is trying to stop a five-game Big South slide. With only a win against Division III Randolph College in the 2010 calendar year, the Keydets are also looking for their first victory on the road in 2009-10. Austin Kenon, who scored 34 points in last year's Big South title game, has netted double figures in all but one game for the Keydets this season and is second in the conference in scoring average (18.1).

VMI enters Thursday's game second in the country in made 3-pointers (192).