A big day for anonymity

ETHAN HYMAN - ehyman@newsobserver.com

GREENSBORO -- It was an afternoon for the unsung and unheralded, and we’re not talking about Virginia and Miami, posting upsets despite their combined 9-23 ACC record.

Sammy Zeglinski, Reggie Johnson and DeQuan Jones, above, are about as far as it gets from household names -- two sophomores and a redshirt freshman who are role players on their own teams -- but they owned the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday.

With the Cavaliers missing Sylven Landesberg, Zeglinski stepped up to provide the missing offense, raining 3-pointers on Boston College to lead Virginia with 21 points. And that wasn’t all -- Zeglinski hurdled the Virginia bench, leaping into the stands to chase a loose ball, and took a brick-wall charge under the basket.

Zeglinski had been averaging 8.8 points, but with Landesberg and Calvin Baker out, the Cavaliers needed more from him, and they got it.

“Nothing really new,” said Zeglinski, who had scored in double figures in only two of his previous 10 games. “I just try to stay aggressive, don’t get discouraged.”

Johnson and Jones, meanwhile, were averaging a combined 10.8 points going into Thursday before they both played like a two-headed Al-Farouq Aminu, posting 36 points against Wake -- more than the Deacons scored in either half. (Aminu struggled to 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting with four turnovers.)

If the first two games are any indication, look out for D’Andre Bell and Jordan Vandenberg tonight and Jordan Davidson, Lewis Witcher, Xavier Gibson and Cliff Tucker tomorrow.