Everything From Virginia Tech HC Mike Young After Notre Dame Victory

Virginia Tech men's basketball head coach Mike Young spoke with the media after the Hokies' 89-76 victory over Notre Dame. Here's the entirety of what Young had to say:

Opening statement:

"I am really proud of our basketball team. I'm not bemoaning, or I'm not being critical. But it is what it is. Notre Dame played on Tuesday at home against Clemson. We're at SMU in a nine o'clock game. All right. I walk into my living room as our team did at 5:00 am, okay? And I've got a game against a really good team that we need to win. Just can't do much with them on Thursday. And uh for that team, for my team, our team to respond and to play as hard as they did from the uh from the start, I think is uh just another testament to who they are as people and the team that uh that that we're becoming. I'm quite pleased with a lot of it. We could have moped around. We could have been sluggish to start. But played a good ball, going into the half up 11. Closed it out in the uh in the second in pretty good fashion. Ball handling [was] a little choppy. But we're good. We get to 3-3 and Syracuse, New York. Here we come."

On the team's 28-for-32 mark from the free throw line after missing two late vs. SMU and how proud Young is:

"Very much so. Shot a lot. ot as much Thursday as we did on Friday. And our numbers have always been good. Our numbers on Friday were good. Needless to say, [missing free throws], that can cost you. It has cost us uh this year. But [Amani] Hansberry, I think, was perfect. [Editor's note: He was.] We had a lot of them, perfect. Tobi [Lawal] missed a couple late, but Amani and Tobi combined for 27 shot foul shots attempted. They are big, rugged people. I think a [22-point and 11-rebound] line for Tobi is a pretty good indicator that he's rounding back into form. Tyler Johnson is making great progress. So, we're getting healthier here, not a moment too soon."

On whether leading by double-digits is something that Young was hammering home:

"To lead by double digits for the rest of the game? You're daggone right I'm gonna hammer on it, and I hope it comes to fruition."

On what the team was hammering home during practice this week:

"Just winning the game. All right. Playing winning basketball, rebounding, taking away the arc, which we did. When they make 10 threes a game, they win. Mr. Statistician over here, Mr. Analytics, David Cunningham. When they make 10 threes a game, they win. When they make six threes a game, they lose. We limited them to six threes. It's not a matter, I've never gone into it in 24 years of coaching about beating the fire out of somebody by 15. I'd love to, but it doesn't work like that. Teams are too good, too well coached. I'd love to do that Wednesday in Syracuse. Guess what? Not going to happen. They've got a good outfit."

On what it felt to run away with the win:

"Yeah, beats the alternative. But Dylan, I've said it in here. You've heard me say it. It's what we sign up for, and we're going to have a lot more... We got 12 left. 12 left in the regular season. And we're going to have a bunch of knockdown drag-outs. So, you're either built for it or go do something else. And I'm really looking forward to it. All those experiences, 4-0 in overtime. The experience in here against those others that it didn't work out for us, we learn from and and and fight like hell to not let it happen again."

On the offensive flow improving in the game against SMU and this one:

"I would concur. I think that's a very good assessment. I don't want to single out just one player. They're all contributing to that. But Amani connecting stuff is just really hard to guard. And he's so elite at catching that thing without hesitation, he's playing the other side. You want a ball on both sides as often as you can. I agree. You're right. We're playing at a really high level. I think we're playing well defensively, too. We were really good in Dallas on Wednesday. We guarded from the arc. So, we're making progress, we're coming on."

On if there was a point where Young was confident in their response:

"I don't think you're able to ascertain that until that thing goes in the air. And we were really good yesterday. We weren't great. We were really good. But we had good energy, we moved and we competed with one another. But I can tell early on, just the attention to detail, light on your feet and competing every pass on the defensive end. I saw that, and I knew we were in good shape."

On what Young liked about his offense's execution and Notre Dame's head coach saying that the team needed to play a game "in the mud" to win:

"They do it. They're sticky. They are sticky. I think the world of Micah Shrewsberry, that guy's a dear friend of mine. He is a terrific coach. Played him his last year at Penn State, then, obviously, he's been in the [ACC] for three years. He's elite at what he does. They're not a very big team. Kebba [Nije is] gone for I don't know. I hope he's back Wednesday against North Carolina. Garrett Sundra is not a very big young man. Brady Kaylor is not a very big young man at the four. They are outrebounding people in league play through four games. They're +7. They outrebounded Clemson. Clemson's bigger than they are, and a good rebounding team. They outrebounded Miami, who's fierce on the glass. So, that was a real concern. I thought our team did a really nice job. When you got Lawal and Hansberry and those guys are grabbing 17, 18, 19 a night, [it] certainly helps your cause."

On Tobi Lawal's aggressiveness (22 points, 14-of-18 from the free throw line):

"I thought he was good in his first game back. Thought he was a little bit better [in his] second game back. Thought he looked a lot more like himself on Wednesday in Dallas. That's him, and that rebounding and that gravity at the rim with his athleticism is a big deal. He's back. He's back, and he's playing good basketball. Proud of him."

On Tech's defending on three-point attempts:

"We're among the league leaders in three-point field goal percentage defense. That has become a real sticking point for our team. Teams that make twos, that hurts. But teams that make threes on you, that's killer. That's killer. You got to guard, you've got to guard the arc. Playing without fouling. We did, yet again, David, you said this. We made more than they took. The physicality I think of our bunch takes its toll on opponents as the game wears on."

[Editor's note: 3304 Sports' Thomas Howlett then spoke up. Young asked where he was from. Howlett responded by stating that he was from Pulaski County and that he worked for the Pulaski Patriot. Young said to Howlett, who was wearing a tie, that he would "drop over dead if [he] saw [the Roanoke Times' Mark Berman] walk in here with a tie on. That's how you're supposed to look. You look great. [Berman] looks like an unmade bed when he comes in here most nights."]

On Tech's performance on the glass:

"Good. I was thinking about it over the last couple of days. They have a lot of long rebounds, and their guards do a nice job of pursuing. [Jalen] Haralson's a big young man. Sir Mohammed and others. I don't want to give up 13 offensive rebounds. There are a lot of missed shots. Rebounding numbers can be misconstrued at times because of a variety of things. You're getting the first stop, and that carom is coming all over the place. But the numbers are what the numbers are. I've got a good rebounding team, and that will continue to improve as we go along."

On 17 second-chance points off nine offensive boards:

"It's a blessing to have Lawal and Hansberry. {Christian] Gurdak is a big man with a good nose for the ball, and he's got hands like meat hooks. So, it's personnel. It's personnel. Not a whole lot about technique. Chase them. Every carom is an offensive opportunity for you. Doing really, really well. Proud of it."