Smith leads Furman against VMI

VMI Keydets (13-15, 7-8 SoCon) at Furman Paladins (20-8, 8-7 SoCon)

Greenville, South Carolina; Saturday, 12 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Furman hosts VMI after Pjay Smith Jr. scored 32 points in Furman’s 80-72 victory over the Samford Bulldogs.

The Paladins have gone 11-3 in home games. Furman ranks third in the SoCon with 24.6 defensive rebounds per game led by Smith averaging 3.5.

The Keydets are 7-8 in conference play. VMI ranks ninth in the SoCon with 8.6 offensive rebounds per game led by Augustinas Kiudulas averaging 2.3.

Furman is shooting 44.9% from the field this season, 0.9 percentage points higher than the 44.0% VMI allows to opponents. VMI averages 73.8 points per game, 4.8 more than the 69.0 Furman gives up to opponents.

TOP PERFORMERS: Smith is shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc with 3.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Paladins, while averaging 16.8 points, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals. Nick Anderson is shooting 47.4% and averaging 16.1 points over the past 10 games.

Rickey Bradley, Jr. is averaging 15.8 points and 1.5 steals for the Keydets. Kiudulas is averaging 14.5 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Paladins: 5-5, averaging 75.5 points, 34.6 rebounds, 16.9 assists, 6.2 steals and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 43.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.4 points per game.

Keydets: 6-4, averaging 69.1 points, 29.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists, 7.8 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 39.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.