CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia — In a tough challenge for the Tarleton State Texans, the squad fell to 2019 National Champion the University of Virginia Cavaliers, 80-50, on college basketball opening night on Monday in the John Paul Jones Arena.
 
For the third-straight season, the Texans opened the season against a Power-five conference member. The game against Virginia marks the seventh power-five conference opponent in a guaranteed game during head coach Billy Gillispie's tenure at Tarleton State.
 
"We played a lot of really great team, top ten teams to the wire," coach Gillispie said in his postgame press conference. "We do have a new group and we are a little shorthanded right now, but we haven't played a team in a guaranteed game that performed as well as Virginia did tonight."
 
Devon Barnes' 11 led the Texans in scoring, coming off the bench and clocking in just over 15 minutes of action. Izzy Miles was the only other Texan in double-figures posting 10 off the bench as well. Miles also brought down five rebounds to co-lead with Smith and fellow freshman Emmanuel Innocenti.
 
The Texan defense was unable to win the turnover battle, but returners Jakorie Smith and Lue Williams snagged three and two steals, respectively. The duo each contributed seven points while shooting 3-for-5 from the charity stripe. Smith also co-led the team with five boards and added a pair of assists.
 
Bubu Benjamin earned the start in his first collegiate action and led the team with a pair of blocks. Benjamin finihed with the most points among the starting five, eight.
 
Virginia's Reece Beekman and Isaac McKneely led all scorers with 16 and 15 points, respectively. McKneely shot four-from-eight from three-point range.
 
Virginia opened the night with an 8-2 run to establish control from the beginning. KiAndre Gaddy scored the first bucket of the season for the Texans on a layup through traffic to cut the deficit to 8-4. Both teams would trade baskets in the next few minutes with Virginia holding a 16-8 lead at the under-16 media timeout. UVa didn't take its foot off the gas running out to a 25-11 lead at the midpoint of the half. Trailing 32-17 the Cavaliers sparked a 7-0 run before an Izzy Miles layup ended the run with the Cavs leading 39-19. Virginia scored four points in the final 1:27 to take a 43-19 lead over the Texans into the half.
 
Virginia faced a tougher Texan defense in the second half only holding a 37-31 in the second half of play. Once again two programs swapped baskets to start the half, highlighted by a Benjamin three-pointer. The Cavaliers held a 51-27 lead at the first media break.
 
Trailing 56-29 the Texans broke out on a 8-0 run. Benjamin drove in the paint drawing the foul and making the basket to spark a Texan run. After making the free throw and a stop, Miles drove the lane for a lay-up. Another Texan three-point play, this time by Barnes extended the run to 8-0, cutting the deficit to 56-37. Jacob Groves ended the run with a UVa three matched by a beyond the arc step back by Devon Barnes. A 9-0 Cavalier run erased any hopes of a Texan comeback, escalating the Virginia lead to 68-40 at the under eight media timeout.
 
In the final eight minutes, the Cavs only held a 12-10 advantage over the Texans. In his first collegiate game, Miles exited early fouling out with 48.5 ticks remaining on the clock. UVa's biggest lead of the night came after a pair of free throws to extend its lead to 30 with 48 seconds remaining.
 
The Cavaliers shot 23-for-47 from the floor for 48.9 percent, and an impressive 45.5 percent, 10-for-22, from beyond the arc. The Texans shot 16-for-48 from the floor at a 33.3 percent clip and 3-for-13 from the three-point line, a 23.1 percent rate. The Texans forced the Cavaliers to the line more often, but the Texans performed better at the charity stripe shooting at a 71.4 percent clip on 15 makes compared to Virginia's 61.4 percent and 24 made buckets. Virginia also led the Texans in rebounds, 40-27 and forced turnovers, 16-8.
 
Tarleton State will stay on the road for its second game of the season on Thursday night in Miami against Florida International. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. ET and will be streamed on ESPN+.