CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.- Savannah State fell to 3-11 on the season following a 78-47 loss to 13th ranked Virginia, in a game played at John Paul Jones Arena.
The crowd of 13,597 saw SSU's John Grant come off the bench to score a career-high and a game-high 22 points. The Baltimore. Maryland native made a career-high seven 3-pointers in the contest.
The game was the fourth of a seven game road swing for the Tigers.
"It's tough. I've been here 13 years. I've been through it. As a coach, you throw chairs and kick and scream, but you've got to get your guys and compete," said SSU head coach Horace Broadnax on his thoughts about playing a tough non-conference schedule to start the season.
The Cavaliers scored the first 12 points of the game. Savannah State did not sent the scoreboard until the 15:17 mark when Javaris Jenkins hit a jumper.
"Tonight, we were 0-9 at the start. If we can make the shots and feel good, it can bring some energy to the table," said Broadnax on his team's slow start. "We have a small window to compete against these guys and if we don't step through that early, it could get out of hand and they can control the game from there."
Following Jenkins' basket, UV went on a 22-8 run to extend their lead to 37-10 with 3:37 remaining in the first period.
Savannah State responded with an 11-2 spurt to close their gap to 18 with under a minute left before intermission. During the Tigers run, Grant nailed a trio of 3-pointers and Austin Dasent made a layup.
Virginia (10-1) led 42-21 at the half.
The Tigers started the second period with back to back 3-pointers from Zach Sellers and Dexter McClanahan to get within 42-27 but a 19-0 run by Virginia that held SSU scoreless for nine minutes put Savannah State down by 34 with 10:17 left.
A free throw by DeAndre Hunter with 4:38 remaining gave the Cavaliers their largest lead of the night at 74-31.
Savannah State responded with a 16-2 run that was highlighted by four 3-pointers by Grant and another by freshman Chris Dubose.
The Tigers spurt landed them as close as 76-47 with 1:39 left.
Ralueke Orizu had a team-high seven rebounds for Savannah State while McClanahan chipped in eight points.
SSU shot 28.1 percent from the field, made 29.7 percent of their 3-point attempts and 80 percent from the free throw line.
Broadnax said the team won't dwell on this loss. "We could probably make excuses, but at the same time, we have to move forward."
He also thought of the contest against a school from a Power 5 conference could be thought of as a teaching tool.
"It was a good lesson. I thought we could shoot the ball a little bit better. I know we put up a lot, but they were disrupting a lot of stuff we tried to do. I think our guys felt that psychologically."
Ty Jerome led three Virginia players in double figures with 17 points.
As a team, the Cavaliers shot 50 percent from the field, 36.8 percent from behind the arc and 72.2 percent from the free throw line.
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