No. 13 Virginia beats Savannah State 78-47

Dec. 19, 2017

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) Sophomore guard Ty Jerome (New Rochelle, N.Y.) scored a career-high 17 points, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts, as No. 13 Virginia breezed through its next-to-last non-conference tune-up, topping Savannah State 78-47 on Tuesday night.

Virginia (10-1) got 10 points and five rebounds from junior center Jack Salt (Auckland, New Zealand) as the Cavaliers built a 42-21 halftime lead and never looked back.

Savannah State (3-11), which has attempted the most 3-pointers in the nation, missed its first nine shots from beyond the arc. The Tigers finished 11 for 37 on 3-pointers. It got a team-high 22 points from junior forward John Grant.

Against the nation’s top scoring defense, Savannah State didn’t score its first points until 4:43 into the game and didn’t hit its first 3-pointer until there was 5:47 left in the first half.

BIG PICTURE

Savannah State: The Tigers struggle to win games in the MEAC so competing against Power 5 foes like the ACC’s Virginia is a tall order. This was Savannah State’s fifth game against a Power 5 opponent. They have lost them all by at least 30 points.

Virginia: The Cavaliers are supposed to handle teams like this and, outside of matchups with West Virginia and maybe VCU and Wisconsin, the non-conference schedule hasn’t tested Virginia much. Things figure to change when Virginia gets to ACC play in two weeks.

UP NEXT

Savannah State has one more matchup with a ranked, Power 5 team when it plays at No. 2 Michigan State on New Year’s Eve.

Virginia wraps up non-conference play when it hosts Hampton on Friday night.

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