Ty Jerome Leads No. 4 Virginia in Rout of Hokies

Ty Jerome had 14 points and a career-high 12 assists as No. 4 Virginia started fast and routed Virginia Tech 81-59 on Tuesday night.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Ty Jerome got No. 4 Virginia off to just the start it needed by making a few deep 3-pointers. That opened things up for De'Andre Hunter and quickly shut things off for No. 9 Virginia Tech.

Hunter scored 21 points, Kyle Guy scored 15 and Jerome had 14 points and a career-high 12 assists as the Cavaliers started fast and routed the Hokies 81-59 on Tuesday night.

''He loosened it up early with some of those long threes,'' Virginia coach Tony Bennett said of Jerome, who made three 3s, the first from about 25 feet, in the first seven minutes.

With the Hokies stretching their defense, Hunter moved inside, making 8 of 12 shots.

''I just tried to be aggressive in the post,'' he said. ''We knew they were going to trap and when they didn't, when they stopped trapping for some reason, I just tried to take advantage of the dude that was guarding me.''

The Cavaliers (16-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) never trailed in the first meeting of the programs in which both were ranked in the top 10. Virginia also remained one of two unbeaten teams in the country along with Michigan, which was idle, and did it against their state rival, which came into John Paul Jones Arena a year ago and won 61-60 in overtime.

''For me, it wasn't on my mind at all,'' Guy said of avenging last year's loss. ''I was just trying to focus on what was at hand. ... We punched them in the mouth and they fought back a little bit and we kept our foot on the pedal.''

Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 19 points and Ahmed Hill 14 to lead Virginia Tech (14-2, 3-1), which was seeking the first 15-1 start in program history. The Hokies trailed by double figures after 12 minutes and never got within single digits the rest of the way.

''We were just behind - behind on ball pressure, behind on rotation, behind on stunts,'' Hokies coach Buzz Williams said. ''And with space, categorically, their whole team can make shots.''

Virginia could hardly miss in the first half, making 10 of 14 3-point tries, including one by Kihei Clark at the buzzer to make it 44-22.

The Hokies, meanwhile, were just 2 for 9 from deep and shot 35 percent (7-for-20) from the field compared to 68 percent (17-for-25) for the Cavaliers in the half.

Virginia finished 13 for 23 from 3-point range and shot 58.5 percent overall (31-for-53).

''I don't think they get off track,'' Williams said. ''I think they are very sound fundamentally.''