GAME NOTES: The Virginia Military Keydets will make their return to the Southern Conference on Thursday night when they visit the Samford Bulldogs at the Pete Hanna Center.

VMI, which moved from the SoCon for the 2003-04 season, is back in the league after an 11-year run in the Big South. The Keydets are starting a three-game road trip in this contest, which features a battle with a another SoCon squad in Mercer on Saturday. VMI is 3-4 overall, but 0-2 on the road.

Samford ended a three-game losing streak on Monday with a 76-70 overtime win against Jacksonville. The Bulldogs are still only 3-5 overall, although they have won both of their games at home. They will visit Furman for another SoCon contest next.

Although the Bulldogs have won the two previous meetings between the programs, this is the first since 1967.

VMI took a break from Division I competition in its warm-up for this contest, rolling past Mid-Atlantic Christian, 133-62. As the score clearly indicates, the Keydets did not face much of a challenge, shooting 51.4 percent from the floor on an astonishing 105 field goal attempts. Six different players scored in double figures, led by Brian Brown (16 points). The Keydets also had incredible advantages in rebounds (70-44) and points in the paint (78-22).

Although that contest clearly inflated their numbers, the Keydets have been a rather potent scoring squad. They rank second in the country in scoring (93 ppg), while shooting a solid 46.7 percent from the field. On defense, they leave much to be desired, allowing foes to connect on 47.3 percent from the field and score 81.3 points per game. QJ Peterson (18.1 ppg, 4.1 apg) is the top scorer, but also a valuable asset due to his ability to create. Craig Hinton (11.5 ppg) is one of three other double-digit scorers on a roster featuring eight players averaging more than six points per game.

Samford was simply the superior team in overtime against Jacksonville, The Bulldogs made 3-of-5 shots from the floor, including a 2-of-2 effort from 3- point range in the extra session, while adding six foul shots for good measure. Jacksonville had only one field goal in the additional five minutes. Darius Jones-Gibson tallied 18 points to lead the way.

Overall, the Bulldogs made an even 50 percent of their field goal tries against the Dolphins, which was a major boost from the 38.5 percent effort they have had in all eight games combined. Such poor shooting as yielded rather poor results on the scoreboard (63.9 ppg) and in the standings. Christian Cunningham (10.6 ppg, 4.1 apg) and Tyler Hood (10.1 ppg) are the lone double-digit scorers on the roster.

If VMI can push the tempo as it prefers, it could power past Samford, which hasn't shown many flashes of offensive brilliance. Still, the hosting Bulldogs won't go down so easily, especially since the Keydets haven't exactly been stingy on defense.