Despite loss, Virginia makes positive steps

By Whitey Reid

Published: January 12, 2009

Late in Saturday’s 78-75 loss at Virginia Tech, Virginia’s Sammy Zeglinski and Calvin Baker both ran into vicious Jeff Allen screens.
While both of Allen’s picks seemed perfectly legal, several other plays by the Hokies were not, according to UVa freshman Sylven Landesberg.
“There were a few blows,” Landesberg said. “It was definitely a physical game. I didn’t understand the rivalry until [Saturday], but there is definitely a rivalry going on.
“They took it to us. They were playing physical — with some dirty shots here and there. It was just a real physical, trash-talking game.”
A game that should make the Feb. 18 rematch between the schools at John Paul Jones Arena very interesting.
Virginia Tech’s physical play didn’t seem to bother Landesberg too much.
Virginia’s star freshman scored 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting. He also had eight rebounds and five assists. Landesberg’s only negative stat was in the turnover column — he tied a season-high with six.
“The guy’s going to get 20 whether it’s quiet or loud,” said Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg. “You can tell your guys to stay in front of him, but he got 20 without having to take a pull-up jumper.
“We told our guys, you have to stay in front of him and get lower than him, and he still drives to the basket. He’s a good player; you’re just not going to stop him.”
An encouraging sign for Virginia was the way it shot the ball. UVa, which has struggled with its motion offenses at many junctures this season, shot 53 percent from the field, including a respectable 41 percent from 3-point range.
Virginia (7-6, 1-1 ACC) also did a great job of holding Allen in check. The sophomore forward was 0 of 7 from the field and finished with just three points. On many occasions, Allen — who came into the contest averaging 13.6 points — seemed hesitant inside against Assane Sene, the Wahoos’ 7-foot Sultan of Swat (who tied a career high with four blocks).
“If someone told me that Allen wouldn’t make a field goal and we’d win, I’d say that’s a good day,” Greenberg said. “That’s probably not going to happen too often.”
When you consider that Virginia is starting three freshmen and a sophomore, Saturday’s performance — one in which it nearly overcame a 15-point deficit with under five minutes to play — could be viewed as a positive step (even though the final result was a loss).
“Coming here is a tough place to play,” said Zeglinski, who called his collision with Allen “a good screen.” “We could have just stopped playing when we were down [15], but we kept battling and made it a game. We just weren’t able to get a win.
“It was a fun game to play in. The crowd was loud. I think it will be a good experience for us later on — to let us know what we need to do in a hostile place like this to get a win. I think we showed a lot of poise at the end.”