CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. _ Watching Wisconsin lose to a ranked team Monday night in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge wasn't surprising.
UW entered the night 0-3 against top 25 teams.
The difference on this night was that the Badgers never led and weren't within realistic striking distance over the final 10 minutes.
Unbeaten Virginia, ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press poll, took control early in the second half and won easily, 49-37.
UW (3-4) saw its record against ranked teams fall to 0-4 this season.
The Badgers lost to Xavier by 10, to Baylor by five and UCLA by two and were in all three games late.
UW entered the night averaging 75.0 points per game and shooting 47.7 percent, but it was obvious early the Badgers weren't going to come close to matching those numbers.
UW shot 18.2 percent from 3-point range (2 of 11) and 34.6 percent overall (9 of 26) in the opening half and finished 3 of 20 from 3-point range and 15 of 48 overall.
Trailing by only four points at halftime, UW scored six points in the first 3 minutes, 3 seconds of the second half, all by Ethan Happ. UW then went scoreless until 9:09 remained, when Brad Davison hit a 3-pointer.
Davison's basket cut Virginia's lead to 42-29 but the lead never fell below nine points the rest of the way.
Happ led UW with 14 points and eight rebounds. Virgina had 14 offensive rebounds and a 34-18 edge in points in the paint, however.
D'Mitrik Trice added eight points and Davison five for UW. Davison hit just 1 of 5 3-pointers and 2 of 10 shots overall, however, and injured his left shoulder for the second time this season.
That came with 4:50 left. He returned to the lineup but was favoring the left arm and eventually came out with 2:38 left and UW down by 12 and did not return.
Sophomore guard Kyle Guy (15.8 ppg) and fifth-year senior guard Devon Hall (11.2 ppg) combined to average 27.0 points and shoot 47.7 percent from 3-point range in the Cavaliers' first six games.
They scored nine points apiece in the opening half to help Virginia (7-0) build a 24-20 lead and finished with 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Guy hit 8 of 17 shots and Hall 7 of 10 as the Cavaliers got the ball too easily into the lane.
UW got off to just about the worst start possible against a team that prides itself on tenacious defense.
The Badgers missed their first three 3-point attempts and made just 1 of 6 shots overall in falling behind, 9-2, just 4:32 into the game.
With Guy and Hall carrying the offense, Virginia built its biggest lead of the half at 20-12 with 7:17 left in the half.
UW was the better team over the final five-plus minutes, however, and battled within 24-20 at the break.
UW missed its first six 3-point attempts before Aleem Ford (six points) hit consecutive 3-pointers, in a span of 49 seconds, to cut Virginia's lead to 22-18.
Happ spent the final 3:29 of the half on the bench after picking up his second foul but the Cavaliers scored just two points during that span.
That allowed UW to stay close and Trice hit a floater from the right side with 17 seconds left to pull the Badgers within 24-20.
Guy scored six points in the first 4:38 of the second half and UW turned the ball over three times on its first eight possessions. The result: Virginia built the lead back to eight, 34-26.
With UW struggling to get open shots, the Cavaliers scored six consecutive points in a span of 1:46 to pad the lead to 40-26 with 11:43 remaining.
Gard called a timeout with 11:34 left and at that point UW hadn't scored in a span of 5:23.
The drought continued and UW's fate was sealed.
