Men's Basketball 12/1/2017 9:57:00 AM

RADFORD TO TAKE ON VMI IN SATURDAY MATINEE

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GAME INFORMATION

SETTING THE STAGE

The Highlanders enter Saturday's game coming off of a tough loss at Vanderbilt. The SEC Commodores managed to overcome a 10-point deficit in the first half to defeat Radford, 74-62, this past Tuesday
The Keydets have won three of their last four games including victories over fellow Big South teams Presbyterian (78-58) and most recently, Charleston Southern (76-68)
Radford faces a high octane Virginia Tech team in Blacksburg on Wednesday, Dec. 6^th so it will be important to grab some momentum heading into the New River Valley matchup

SERIES HISTORY

The history between Radford and VMI goes back 42 games to the 1976 season where the Keydets came out victorious in a mid-December showdown
Across those 42 games, the Highlanders and Keydets have each won 21, splitting the series right down the middle
On February 21, 2009 the two teams met in front of 4,744 fans, the fourth-largest home crowd in VMI history. The Highlanders managed to come out on top, 97-90
Just last season, Radford and VMI met in the Dedmon Center where the Highlanders topped the visitors, 74-67. Caleb Tanner had one of the best games of his career that day, dropping 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting including four from downtown

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Record: 3-3 (0-0 Big South)
Radford will be looking to improve its record on the road which currently sits at 1-3
The Highlanders rank in the top half of the Big South in scoring defense (71.7), 3-point field goal percentage (37.4), 3-pointers made per game (9.7), rebounds per game (36.0), offensive rebounds per game (12.5) and blocked shots per game (3.7)
Junior forward Ed Polite Jr. leads Radford with 12.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 steals per game
Redshirt freshman Carlik Jones has won two of the first three Big South Freshman of the Week honors this season
Redshirt senior Justin Cousin surpassed the 50 career games started mark against JMU and is on pace to play in his 100^th career game next Wednesday at Virginia Tech. Polite Jr. looks poised to join him with his 50^th career start at VMI
The big-man duo of Devonnte Holland and Darius Bolstad had the best games of their season at Vanderbilt, posting season highs of 11 and nine points respectively
The Highlanders have turned the ball over less than 10 times in back-to-back games at Elon and Vanderbilt

SCOUTING THE KEYDETS

Record: 3-3 (0-0 SoCon)
Head Coach Dan Earl is in his third season at the helm of the program
VMI struggled mightily last season, posting a 6-24 record including a 3-15 mark in conference play, but they're already half way to that win total this season
Coach Earl and his staff have gone with the same starting five for all six games this season: B. Parham, Creammer, Smith, Miller and Gilkeson
In front of their home fans at Cameron Hall. The Keydets are a perfect 2-0 so far in 2017-18
Freshman guard Bubba Parham leads the Keydets with 13.3 points per game
Sophomore forward Tyler Creammer leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game and sophomore guard Keith Smith leads the way in assists with 4.3 per game
VMI has been outscored by a combined 208-223 in the first half this season, but have bounced back to take a combined 219-217 lead in the second half