Virginia vs. Hampton: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2016

In the history of the NCAA tournament, no No. 1 seed has ever fallen in the round of 64. Virginia made sure that trend continued in Thursday's dominant 81-45 victory over Hampton at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Midwest Region's top team struggled a little bit out of the gates but capped off the first half on a 20-3 surge to build a 40-21 advantage. The Cavaliers' stonewall defense put the clamps down on the Pirates, who shot 30.8 percent in the opening half.   

Virginia head coach Tony Bennett went down in the final minutes before the halftime break and had to go to the locker room a bit early to gather himself. Jerry Ratcliffe of the Daily Progress reacted to what happened:

It was a scary incident, but Bennett was initially trying to wave off trainers to suggest he was OK. Thankfully, he returned from the second half and explained what happened on the truTV telecast.

"I was a little dehydrated and blacked out a little. .... But I'm fine," said Bennett (h/t the Washington Post's Mark Giannotto).

Bennett's brief exit was about the only negative development for Virginia during Thursday's contest. The Cavaliers had a huge edge from beyond the arc, going 12-of-25 shooting from there, while Hampton missed 16 of 19 such attempts and shot only 30.4 percent overall.

Virginia Basketball highlighted the history the Cavaliers made with their deep-shooting prowess:

Jesse Spector of Sporting News had a fitting reaction to what happened when the victors put their foot on the gas:

March Madness is defined by Cinderella stories and exciting upstarts who push the tempo and often light up the scoreboard. That isn't the Cavaliers' style. They wear down opponents with a slow pace and demoralize with their ability to execute well in the half-court offense or in transition off turnovers.

This formula proved most effective against Hampton. Sharpshooting junior guard London Perrantes knocked down three treys in the first half and added another later to score 12 points.

Senior big man Anthony Gill also enjoyed considerable success in the paint, putting up a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds with four assists. ACC Player of the Year Malcolm Brogdon put in 11 points, and Marial Shayok had 10 of the Wahoos' 33 bench points.

One highlight-reel play from Gill came on a beautiful pass, which capped off the Cavs' aforementioned massive first-half run:

Little hope lingered for Hampton to make history. Its best chance was to crash the glass and have a big advantage over Virginia on the boards. The Pirates entered with a per-game-average edge over the Cavaliers of 41.6 to 31.9 on the boards.

Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports felt Hampton should simply look for moral victories in light of how phenomenal Virginia is defensively:

Quinton Chievous led Hampton with 17 points in defeat but had only three rebounds—well under his season average of 11.

Gill was instrumental in ensuring Virginia held its own by crashing the glass with authority and being a willing passer to keep Hampton off balance. The inside-out dynamic and exceptional ball movement helped the Cavaliers create plenty of separation and coast to an easy win. The Cavaliers also committed only five turnovers.

CBS Sports' Doug Gottlieb looked ahead to what awaits Virginia in the next phase of the tournament:

The ninth-seeded Butler Bulldogs defeated Texas Tech 71-61 on Thursday and loom as Virginia's next opponent in the round of 32.

Butler boasts more offensive firepower than Hampton, averaging 80.6 points per game on the season. But the Cavaliers figure to hold their impending adversary well below that total.

It's going to take a monster effort on defense for the Bulldogs to grind their way to the Sweet 16, and Virginia should be all the more pumped for its next game considering it lost at the same stage of last year's Big Dance.

Post-Game Reaction

A certain famous singer couldn't help but chime after the game as the winning coach was trending on Twitter:

Bennett's fall didn't turn out to be too serious, so his leading scorer from Tuesday in Gill also decided to make a little light of the incident.

Asked whether he prayed for his coach, Gill said, per Ratcliffe, "Yes, I did. It worked. I healed him."  

Per WTKR NewsChannel 3, Gill explained how his roots at the game's venue helped him turn in a strong performance, saying, "Family being here got me going, I was born and raised in [North Carolina]."

Pirates head coach Edward Joyner was classy in defeat, expressing optimism about the Cavaliers' chances to go on a deep tournament run.

"[Virginia] pays attention to detail. They have a strong team that can make it very far," said Joyner.

Check out Bleacher Report's live updating bracket to track your picks along the road to the Final Four.