No. 4 Virginia takes on winless Coppin State in tune-up

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. -- After netting 10 three-pointers in the first two games of his junior campaign, guard Ty Jerome became just the second player in Virginia history to do so in the first two games of a season.

Friday night, Jerome and the fourth-ranked Cavaliers will have one more tune up at John Paul Jones Arena before they head to the Bahamas for next week's Battle 4 Atlantis.

Coppin State (0-3) will be Virginia's opponent as the Eagles enter Friday's game struggling on offense, which doesn't bode well against the Cavaliers' stingy defense.

"We've got to learn how to compete for forty minutes," Coppin State head coach Juan Dixon said Wednesday night after his team's loss to Navy. "We'll change some things up in practice and teach our guys how to compete for an entire practice and hopefully that will carry over into the game."

This will be just the second meeting between the two teams with Virginia winning the only other matchup 63-61 back in 1993.

The Eagles have not scored more than 63 points in their three losses so far this season and will face a Virginia (2-0) squad that held Towson to 42 points, and George Washington to 57.

"We have some great strengths and there are some areas that we have to keep addressing," Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said. "Everyone is capable. I feel like we have to get some more production off of the bench, I think that'll be important."

Jerome and fellow junior guard Kyle Guy have paced the Virginia offense through two games. Jerome has scored 20 points in both games while Guy is averaging 14 points per game. Jerome has made 10 of his 14 three-point attempts and is also averaging 5.5 assists per game to start the 2018-19 season.

Coppin State has three players averaging in double figures through their first three games with sophomore guards Dejuan Clayton and Taqwain Drummond averaging 11 points per game apiece.

The Eagles have just seven assists in their three losses while Virginia has allowed eight in their two games.

Jerome took just nine shots to reach 20 points against George Washington and will be a tough matchup for an undersized Coppin State team.

"I think I'm just going to let the game keep coming to me," Jerome said. "I mean, I took nine shots. I probably took double-digit shots a lot of games last season, so wherever the game comes, I'll take it."

Virginia shot 54.5 percent from the field in their win over George Washington and has shown they can be efficient on both ends of the court.

Bennett and Dixon will be facing off as two of the 27 current Division I head coaches who played in the NBA.

The Cavaliers will face Middle Tennessee State on Wednesday at 9:30 in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis before a possible matchup with either Butler or Dayton.