COLUMBUS, Ohio -- To see the ease with which Virginia won its first-round NCAA men's basketball game with Albany, it makes you wonder why it was such a rare occurrence.
An 84-57 victory over Albany put the Cavaliers in the second round of the NCAAs for the first time since they reached the final eight in 1995.
UVa's opponent Sunday at 12:10 p.m. is Tennessee, a 121-86 winner over Long Beach State in Friday's second game at Nationwide Arena.
The Vols (23-10) had a trio of 20-point scorers -- Chris Lofton, JaJuan Smith and Ramar Smith -- with 25, 24 and 22 points, respectively.
J.R. Reynolds had 28 points and Sean Singletary added 23 for Virginia, which is 5-0 this season when its two starting guards each score 20 points or more.
Reynolds, a senior from Roanoke, Va., made his first seven shots from the field and finished 9-for-13, only the second time in 12 games that Reynolds had made more than 50 percent of his shots.
Reynolds had gone 9-for-44 in his previous three games, averaging 11.7 points over that span. He also had a team-high seven rebounds Friday.
Reynolds has a hip injury that he has been unsuccessful in keeping quiet.
"I'm not surprised because J.R.'s done a lot of this throughout the two years that I've been with him," UVa coach Dave Leitao said. "What we've tried to do is manage his injury throughout the later stages of the season.
"I thought this week that his time on the court was good and it got him his rhythm back, which was lacking, but we still had time to rest him and make sure he was feeling comfortable that way."
Virginia, an 8 1/2-point favorites, never let Albany get inside 19 points during the second half and led 60-30 at one point.
"Guard play is really going to be to your advantage in the NCAA Tournament," Albany coach Will Brown said. "If you have more than one guy that can go off and they have Singletary and Reynolds, they go off on the same night, teams are going to be in trouble.
"If one of them goes off, they're good enough to carry a team. So, I think the big thing for them is, they probably need some other guys to step up and help them.
"And, I've said this over and over: You talk about the great teams in the ACC, right away everybody thinks of North Carolina and Duke. Virginia was the team that tied Carolina. They're good. They're doing something right."
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