Has Diane turned the corner?

The loudest crowd reaction on Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena — other than the Delta Dental Kiss Cam and an ill-fated trivia contest between two fans who couldn’t recognize several members of Virginia’s team — was when UVa senior Mamadi Diane knocked down a 3-pointer late in the Wahoos’ 84-70 loss to Xavier.
This wasn’t just any 3-pointer. The triple was Diane’s first of the season. He had missed his first 21 attempts.
It was hard to tell whether the loud cheers from the JPJ fans were ones of sarcasm, true support for the struggling tri-captain, or maybe a combination of both.
Whatever their meaning, Diane — whose last 3-pointer came against Old Dominion in the CBI last March — was glad to see the ball swish through the net.
“I’m feeling a lot better now than I have in a long time,” said Diane, who finished with seven points on 3 of 4 shooting in 10, mostly garbage time, minutes.
There has been much speculation concerning Diane’s poor start. The explanations have ranged from his offseason foot surgery to the new
3-point line.
Diane told The Daily Progress that his right knee has been bothering him of late. He said it was stress-related and had occurred as a result of working so hard to get his foot back in shape.
“There are a lot of things that could have played a factor — being out, being layed up all summer, not practicing as much,” Diane said. “At the end of the day, a lot of my shooting all over the floor has been affected. I mean, it’s just getting back into a rhythm right now.”
With just under five minutes to play, Diane scored on a drive to the basket after a nice setup from Sylven Landesberg. It was his first field goal since the Hampton game on Dec. 23.
Less than a minute later, Diane scored on a point-blank shot attempt that was goal-tended. He capped off his highest-scoring game since the second game of the season versus South Florida with the 3-pointer on a feed from Solomon Tat.
“I was fortunate enough to get a pass from Sylven and an open shot from Solomon,” Diane said, “and it just really felt good seeing those shots go down.”
Diane’s teammates seemed just as happy to see him finally achieve some modicum of success.
“I’ve seen Mamadi shoot and I just know he’s going to get over this slump,” said Virginia sophomore Mike Scott. “I know he can shoot. I tell him, ‘Keep shooting, don’t stop shooting.’ He’s a good shooter.
“I know he’s not playing his best right now, but I’m sticking by him. He’s our captain, our leader, our friend, our brother. I know what it feels like to go through what he’s going through right now, but he’ll get over it.”
Virginia coach Dave Leitao didn’t seem so sure.
“I don’t know,” said Leitao, when asked if Diane’s performance could be used as a springboard. “We’ll have to see what the answer to that is.”