UVa comeback falls short

Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen, the brains behind Virginia’s motion offense, recently said that one of the negatives of his scheme — because of its free-flowing nature — is that it can sometimes look as though you’ve never practiced.

Saturday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena was one such occasion.

“We were making cuts just to make cuts,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, who adopted Paulsen’s motion attack prior to the 2006-07 season. “We were passing just to pass. It wasn’t an attack mode. We weren’t looking to get the ball down low. We weren’t looking to penetrate or change sides of the floor with the basketball.”

That disjointed play cost Virginia the most in crunch time. UVa didn’t score on its last five possessions of the game, a span of over four minutes, and lost for the third time in four games — a 58-56 setback to Auburn in front of a crowd of 11,070.

“I’m obviously disappointed,” said Leitao, whose team was outrebounded by 14, “particularly with our inability from start to finish to play the game that we prepared to play.

“The two things we emphasized before the game were our ability on both ends to execute a specific gameplan and then to do it with a high level of passion, and we didn’t sustain either. It obviously cost us at the beginning, it cost us in the middle and it cost us in the end.”

UVa (4-4) had battled all the way back from a 13-point second-half deficit. A Sammy Zeglinski jumper gave the Cavaliers a 56-52 lead before Auburn’s Tay Waller and DeWayne Reed hit back-to-back 3-pointers in a 52-second span to put the Tigers (6-4) back on top.

Virginia got the ball back with 14 seconds and a final chance to tie or take the lead. Leitao designed a play for Sylven Landesberg to drive as far as he could to the basket. If he was stopped, he was to pass to Zeglinski, who was rolling off a screen. That’s precisely what transpired — only Zeglinski’s 3-point attempt was blocked by Reed in a play somewhat reminiscent of Hakim Warrick’s game-clinching swat against Kansas in the 2003 NCAA championship game.

“I felt like I could get the shot off,” said Zeglinski, who had nine points and five assists, “but Reed made a nice play on the ball.

“The play worked. I just wasn’t able to get the shot off quick enough.”

Leitao sounded iffy as to whether it was the best possible shot.

“I told him if his feet were set and he was comfortable and he was open — that it was a quality shot — that he could shoot it from either 2 or 3,” Leitao said. “If not, [he was] to drive it as deep as he could go and we could space out and kick and drive again.

“But he sprinted off and took the shot. I think it was a little untimely because there was a man there, but there wasn’t that much time left either so maybe he felt he had to take it.”

In truth, it was the first half where Virginia lost this one. UVa set a terrible tone, playing its most wretched 20 minutes of the season.

With 6:02 remaining in the half, the Cavaliers were somehow able to tie the game at 21 on a pair of free throws by Landesberg. However, they didn’t score again the rest of the half as Auburn closed on an 11-0 run that was punctuated with a monster put-back jam by Lucas Hargrove. On the play, the 6-foot-6 Hargrove soared over two UVa defenders and dunked with one hand.

The play capped an inept stanza in which Virginia shot just 21 percent from the floor (5 of 24). Baker and Zeglinski were a combined 1 of 12.

As time expired, UVa players were hit with a chorus of boos as the headed into the locker room, down by 11.

In the second half, Landesberg was a one-man wrecking crew. The freshman, who notched 15 of his game-high 22, was hell-bent going to the basket and drawing fouls. It paid off as he helped Virginia, momentarily, retake the lead.

“I just wanted the ball every time and wanted to make something happen,” he said. “That’s what that was — just wanting it.”

Clearly, Virginia could use more players with a similar attitude.

Dunks

Mamadi Diane’s struggles continued. In 20 minutes, the senior didn’t score — he didn’t even take a shot — and had no rebounds or assists. Sylven Landesberg said Diane is not 100 percent recovered from offseason foot surgery and also has an unspecified knee problem that has been bothering him. “I think it’s just a mentality thing,” said Landesberg, when asked about Diane. “In practice he plays real good — as good as anybody else. He just has to get used to game situations again. He’s still coming back, still trying to recover. … his knee hurts a little bit. He’s just been recovering from all these injuries, but he’s going to be back.” … Former Virginia signee Johnnie Lett had three points and three rebounds in 10 minutes of action.