When Virginia guard Sammy Zeglinski tumbled to the floor late in the first half of Wednesday night’s game against Liberty, the sparse crowd on hand at John Paul Jones Arena held its breath.

A few months back, Virginia walk-on Will Sherrill wrote down his goal for the 2008-09 basketball season on a sheet of paper — to get into the first half of at least one game by the end of the season.

The Virginia player whom VMI coach Duggar Baucom was talking about first in the wake of his team’s 107-97 loss on Sunday was Sammy Zeglinski.

Yes, for the last three years — ever since coach Dave Leitao came aboard — Virginia has been blessed with one of the best players in the conference.

Sammy Zeglinski’s, medical redshirt was officially granted.

On Wednesday, sources told The Daily Progress that UVa forward Mamadi Diane — the team’s leading returning scorer — recently underwent surgery on his left foot and is expected to be out of commission for at least a couple of months.

Sammy Zeglinski told The Daily Progress that his ankle is feeling good. The 6-foot, 175-pounder has been participating in pickup games since about the middle of last month.