The Furman Paladins and the VMI Keydets meet in college basketball action from Cameron Hall on Saturday afternoon.
The Furman Paladins will look to build on their 81-49 win over Samford last time out. Alex Hunter leads the Paladins in scoring and assists with 17.1 PPG and 3.5 APG while Jalen Slawson has 15.9 PPG with a team-high 8.4 RPG and 4 APG and Mike Bothwell has 15.1 PPG and 4 RPG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for Furman so far this season. Conley Garrison also has 8.9 PPG and 4.6 RPG for the Paladins on the year. As a team, Furman is averaging 80.1 PPG on 47.2% shooting from the field, 39.6% from three and 70.5% from the foul line while allowing 72.3 PPG on 45% from the field and 31.4% from three this season.
The VMI Keydets will be hoping to add to their 80-73 win over Wofford on the road in their last game. Kamdyn Curfman leads the Keydets in scoring with 18.4 PPG along with 3.1 APG while Jake Stephens has 16.8 PPG with a team-high 8.5 RPG and 3.3 APG and Sean Conway has 10 PPG with 6.6 RPG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for VMI so far this season. Trey Bonham also has 3.2 APG as well this season. As a team, VMI is averaging 79.5 PPG on 45% shooting from the field, 36.7% from behind the arc and 80% from three while allowing 66.2 PPG on 37.2% shooting from the field and 28.1% from behind the arc this season.
Furman is 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 5-15-1 ATS in their last 21 games following a win while the over is 7-2 in their last 9 games following a win. VMI is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 13-3 ATS in their last 16 home games while the under is 6-1 in their last 7 home games.
I get the case to be made for Furman laying points on the road, but we’ve seen how dangerous the Keydets can be offensively and that offense gives them a chance to keep themselves in games or like we saw against Wofford, win the game outright. Furman is the more name-worthy team, but they haven’t been that dominant SoCon team we’ve been used to seeing in the past, so give me VMI and the points here.