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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Virginia coach Pete Gillen worried
the fourth-ranked Cavaliers might be overconfident entering
Sunday's game against Grambling State, so he reminded his players
of several recent upsets.
"I've seen more upsets this year than I've ever seen before,"
Gillen said. "As a coach, you're afraid, because every time you
pick up the paper, somebody's upsetting somebody."
He needn't have worried, as every player on the Virginia roster
scored in the Cavaliers' 112-67 victory over Grambling.
Virginia (9-0) reached the 100-point mark for the 12th time in
four years under Gillen on Jermaine Harper's jumper with six
minutes remaining, but the outcome was secure long before that.
"Our guys came out focused. We're a bigger and stronger team,
so we should have been able to do some things," Gillen said.
Virginia blew out the Tigers with a 19-0 run in the first half,
holding Grambling scoreless for a six-minute stretch. Grambling
finally scored on a layup by Paul Haynes with 13 minutes remaining,
but the Cavaliers had taken a 23-6 lead.
"They just beat you in every phase of the game," Grambling
State coach Larry Wright said. "They can play with anyone in the
country."
Travis Watson scored 17 points, leading six Cavaliers scoring in
double figures. Chris Williams and Roger Mason Jr. had 15 each,
Elton Brown scored 14, Harper had 12 and Adam Hall had 10.
Grambling (3-8) was led by reserve guard Nick Hall, who put in
19 points, marking the first time all season the Tigers were led by
a player other than Haynes. The leading scorer in the Southwestern
Athletic Conference, Haynes was held to a season-low 10 points, and
the Tigers' second-leading scorer, Jamel Gooding, was held to just
two points.
"They took Paul out of it," Wright said. "I'm not sure they
had to double (team) him, given the type of athletes they had."
Virginia shot 60 percent in the first half, taking a 68-25 lead
into halftime.
Most of the Cavaliers' starters were out of the game with 10
minutes remaining.
The Cavaliers swarmed Grambling all game, taking a 40-point lead
in the first half and a 78-29 lead 2:34 into the second half on a
pair of Mason free throws.
Grambling shot 31.4 percent and turned the ball over 17 times.
Virginia also beat the Tigers on the boards, with 30 points off
offensive rebounds and a 53-44 overall rebounding edge.
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