VMI faces Mercer in SoCon semis

Published Mar. 7, 2021 6:30 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Mercer (17-10, 10-9) vs. VMI (13-11, 8-7)

Southern Conference Tourney Semifinals, Harrah's Cherokee Center, Asheville, North Carolina; Sunday, 7:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: A spot in the SoCon championship game is up for grabs as Mercer and VMI are set to face off. The only regular season meeting came on Jan. 23, when the Bears shot 50.9 percent from the field while limiting VMI's shooters to just 48.4 percent on their way to a three-point victory.

SENIOR STUDS: Mercer's Felipe Haase, Ross Cummings and Jeff Gary have collectively scored 42 percent of the team's points this season and have accounted for 36 percent of all Bears scoring over the last five games.

CREATING OFFENSE: Greg Parham has accounted for 42 percent of all VMI field goals over the last three games. The senior guard has 22 field goals and 17 assists in those games.

WINLESS WHEN: VMI is 0-6 this year when it scores 72 points or fewer and 13-5 when it scores at least 73.

ASSIST DISTRIBUTION: The Bears have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Keydets. VMI has 47 assists on 92 field goals (51.1 percent) across its past three contests while Mercer has assists on 42 of 82 field goals (51.2 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The VMI offense has scored 80.9 points per game this season, ranking the Keydets 16th nationally. The Mercer defense has allowed 72.4 points per game to opponents (ranked 221st).

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