Keydets upset No. 2 UNCG, Fall to Wofford in SoCon Semifinals

The No. 7 seed VMI basketball team played gritty basketball to earn a hard-fought 64-57 victory over No. 2 seed University of North Carolina Greensboro Saturday, March 8, in the SoCon Tournament quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals Sunday, March 10, in Asheville, North Carolina. Though they ultimately fell to No. 6 Wofford 85-65, the victory over UNCG  marks a historic moment in VMI basketball history.

The Keydets (15-18) qualified for the semifinals for the first time since the 2020–21 season when they defeated Furman in overtime in the quarterfinals before falling to Mercer in the semifinals that season.

Saturday’s win marked the first time since the 2002–03 season that VMI has won two SoCon Tournament games to advance to the semifinals, although the most recent occurrence came from the 2011–12 team, which earned two tournament wins as a member of the Big South.

Big Win

Saturday’s win over the Spartans was a new milestone for Andrew Wilson, third-year head coach, as the Keydets snapped a six-game losing skid to the Spartans for win No. 15 on the season, an 11-win improvement from a year ago to mark the biggest turnaround in VMI basketball history. VMI last saw a 10-win improvement from 2007–08 (14 wins) to 2008–09 (24 wins).

As VMI and UNCG had never before met in the SoCon Tournament, Saturday’s win was VMI’s first ever for the Keydets over UNCG in Asheville and moved VMI to 11-27 in the all-time series history with the Spartans.

Andrew Wilson, VMI Head Coach

“We fought through a lot of adversity tonight, as we have all season. To hold this UNC Greensboro team to 57 points—what a defensive effort from our guys. We knew this was going to be a rock fight. That’s the way they play. Mike does an incredible job and has a great culture. They’re the best defensive team in our league, and they have been for years. We have an incredible amount of respect for their program. This is a great moment for our guys. I told them in the locker room, there’s not a group of kids in college basketball who deserve this moment as much as our guys, and I’m so proud of them.

“A lot of people didn’t think that we could field a competitive basketball program in this league. This has been the 12th-rated league out of 32 Division I leagues over the last 5 years. This is an incredibly difficult league to navigate, and people doubted that we could build a program here. I’ve been telling my guys for the last couple months, I don’t know what our destination is, but there’s something out there for us. And luckily, I think they’ve believed in my message. They bought into it, and I still believe there’s something else out there for us to go get.”

Game Summary

Both teams started out slow and could not buy a basket for the first few minutes before the Keydets started to get their feet under them and built a gradual 20-10 lead midway through the opening half. The Keydets held firm and picked up their biggest lead of the game at 11 points at 26-15 with 3:56 in the half and again at 28-17 with 1:36 to go. VMI went into the locker room with a 28-19 lead at halftime to have momentum going into the second half. Augustinas Kiudulas ’28 paced VMI with 12 points in the opening 20 minutes.

UNCG made a run to open the second half and eventually cut the deficit to 33-32 at the 16:03 mark, but the Keydets stayed resilient and brought the lead back up to seven, 45-38, at the 12:34 mark after a Tan Yildizoglu ’28 layup. VMI did not let up and maintained an eight-point lead at 50-42 with six minutes left in regulation.

The Spartans continued to chip away at the deficit and cut the VMI lead to just one at 56-55 with 1:52 to play after a pair of Ron Polite III free throws. Rickey Bradley Jr. ’26 then hit a big shot just inside the arc at the top of the key to put VMI back up by five and then hit four clutch free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal the win for the Keydets.

Key Stats

• The Keydets made 23-of-55 shots (41.8 percent). UNCG made just 19-of-52 for 36.5 percent.
• VMI took good care of the ball and had just seven turnovers in the game.
• Bradley earned his first career double-double by registering 23 points to go with a game-high 11 boards. He went 8-10 from the charity stripe.
• Kiudulas finished with 19 points to go with seven rebounds, and Yildizoglu also finished in double figures with 11. Kiudulas went 7-8 from the free-throw line to aid in the victory.
• UNCG shot 14 percent (2-14) from beyond the arc.

The 2024-25 VMI basketball season came to a close Sunday night as the No. 7 seed Keydets fell to No. 6 seed Wofford College by an 85-65 score in the SoCon Tournament semifinals.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on vmikeydets.com.