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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (Ticker) -- Fifth-ranked Virgina was not looking ahead in this one.

Travis Watson scored 16 points as Virginia remained unbeaten with a 74-54 victory over Charleston Southern.

Virgina has a showdown with 16th-ranked Georgetown on Thursday and could have looked past this game, but it used a 13-3 run to build a 41-19 lead with 3:37 to go in the first half.

"We got two tough games this week, on Thursday against Georgetown and on Sunday against Rutgers," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We've got to mature. We have two tough days of practice. We've played the teams we've played on our schedule.

"Auburn was a tough team, Virginia Tech was an inspired team, Michigan State turned into the Ice Capades, so that was a push. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do." Consecutive 3-pointers by Chris Williams and Roger Mason Jr. preceded the 13-3 run as Virginia went up 28-11 with 11:19 left in the half.

Mason scored 18 points in Virginia's 77-72 win over Auburn 10 days ago. But on Monday, he was held to a season-low 12 on 4-of-10 shooting from the floor.

Watson had 13 points in the half for the Cavaliers, who shot 50 percent (16-of-32) over the first 20 minutes and 44 percent (25-of-57) overall.

Virginia also was the beneficiary of Charleston Southern's sloppiness in the first half. The Buccaneers connected on just 21 percent (7-of-33) in the half.

They also had trouble handling the ball, committing 11 turnovers, which led to 15 points.

In the second half, Virginia shot 9-of-25 and was outscored, 34-29, but still controlled the game as Charleston Southern never threatened.

"We got out to a good lead," Gillen said. "I thought we played enthusiastically. In the second half, I thought we mailed it in a little bit. It is the mark of a team that still has stuff to learn.

"We did an excellent job in the first half, especially defensively, holding them to only 20 points. In the second half, we lost concentration. We were up 20 points, but you have to put people away and keep them away." The lead was cut under 20 just once in the second half on Granger's layup, which made it 51-32 with 13:40 remaining. But freshman Jermaine Harper made a 3-pointer and a driving layup to extend the lead to 24.

Virginia has won 23 straight games in the regular season against non-conference opponents since an 85-63 loss at St. John's on December 4, 1999.

Charleston Southern (3-5) was led by Granger's 13 points in its first meeting with Virginia.

"I thought it was a good experience for us," coach Jim Platt said. "I don't think we made it a very good experience for Virginia because I don't think it was the kind of competition they were looking for." .