Bucknell Bucknell/Virginia Virginia Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

The bigger, more talented and Cavaliers (No. 9 ESPN/USA Today, No. 8 AP) used a fierce full-court press to force 27 turnovers and outrebounded the Bison 52-36 in a 99-49 victory.

"Our kids were intimidated. You could tell by the way they lined up for free throws. They didn't want to get pushed into the lane," Bucknell coach Pat Flannery said.

Virginia (9-0) converted the 27 turnovers into 40 points.

"Our defense was excellent," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "The defense helped us get points, and we were very unselfish."

Starting center Travis Watson, who played just 20 minutes, led the Cavaliers with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

"Travis was tremendous," Gillen said. "He was a wrecking machine in there."

Watson said he focused on rebounding.

"That's how I got a lot of my points today," he said.

The Cavaliers also got 13 points from Adam Hall and 12 from Chris Williams as they continued their best start in eight years.

The Bison (5-5) were stymied by Virginia's tough defense, shooting just 33.3 percent from the field compared to the Cavaliers' 51.3 percent.

"We had trouble simulating that (press), and let me tell you, we tried," Flannery said of the practices leading to the game. "You either have to let the kids play in a game like this and get better for games later on, or hold the ball and do things you don't really want to do."

Bryan Bailey, Bucknell's leading scorer at 17.6 points per game, was hampered by foul trouble and finished with seven points.

"Bailey got two quick fouls, and against Virginia, the way they come at you, going that deep into the bench early is tough," said Flannery, who has eight sophomores and freshmen on his team.

Virginia got 43 points from their bench, led by Maurice Young with 10 and Keith Friel with nine. Gillen started removing his starters from the game midway through the first half.

"We have a game Saturday (Dartmouth), so that was in the back of our minds," Gillen said. "To play they way they want to play, we need to play eight or nine guys."

Bucknell committed 18 turnovers in the first half and never mounted a serious threat.

"We rushed it a lot on offense and didn't rebound well, that pretty much hurt us," said Boakai Lalugba, who led Bucknell with 14 points.

Virginia, which was 8-of-16 from 3-point range, led 45-18 at halftime. The Cavaliers went on a 10-1 run capped by a free throw by Hall to take a 75-35 lead midway through the second half.

The Bison were scoreless over the last five minutes of the game while the Cavaliers scored 16 points, including two 3-pointers from Young. Jason Rogers hit a jumper with 22 seconds left to play to give Virginia the 50-point lead.

Friel, who was shooting 58 percent from behind the 3-point arc, was 3-of-8 from 3-point range Thursday after sitting out Saturday's game against University of Maryland Baltimore County with an injured knee.

Jordan Hardenberg added eight points for Bucknell, while Jeremiah Bennett had nine rebounds.

The Cavaliers are off to their best start since going 11-0 in 1992-93.

This was just the third meeting between Virginia and Bucknell (5-5). The teams split the first two games with Bucknell winning 99-81 during the 1960-61 season and Virginia winning 64-45 in 1980-81.

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Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Bucknell Clubhouse

Virginia Clubhouse