Eighth-ranked UVA bolted out of the locker room – twice. The Cavs ran out to a 19-2 lead in the first half, then outscored Tennessee State 20-0 to start the second half, en route to posting an easy 79-36 win over the Tigers on Tuesday night.
Virginia (5-0) also had a 32-0 run that spanned a nearly 10-minute stretch of the first and second halves. Tennessee State (2-3) trailed by as many as 45 points before making up a small amount of ground in garbage time.
Justin Anderson scored 20 points in 22 minutes, shooting a perfect 7-for-7 from the field, including 5-for-5 from three-point range. Anthony Gill had 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field and pulled down nine rebounds.
Mike Tobey had 13 points and 16 rebounds off the bench for Virginia, which shot 51.7 percent from the floor for the game (31-of-60) and outrebounded the Tigers 49-22.
Tennessee State was 14-for-48 from the floor (29.2 percent) and got 10 points each from Xavier Richards and Marcus Roper.
Next up for UVA is the Barclays Center Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y. On Friday, the Cavs play LaSalle, with a matchup against either Vanderbilt or Rutgers in the finale of the two-day event on Saturday.
Augusta Free Press editor Chris Graham will be in Brooklyn reporting from courtside for both games. Join the AFP GameDay Blog on Friday night at 9:30 p.m. for scores, analysis and more.