Everything From Virginia Tech HC Mike Young After OT Win Over Elon

Virginia Tech men's basketball head coach Mike Young spoke to the media following the Hokies' 82-81 overtime victory over Elon; here's the entirety of what Young had to say:

Opening statement:

"It's one of those days. Come to shoot around. Neo was complaining about not feeling great yesterday, but oh gosh, come to shootaround this morning and he can't do it. Saw our team doctor, [he] was sick and sent him home. He wasn't in the building. Dorn's got back [issues] that is making progress or so it appears certainly. Tobi [Lawal]'s getting closer. We just got a lot of stuff going on. [Amani] Hansberry fouls out. Tyler Johnson has a foot injury there in the overtime period, but Isaiah Pasha had an opportunity to play and help our team win. And that, he did. Christian Gurdak thrust into a very prominent role and helped our team win. Christian played 28 minutes, grabbed six rebounds. Ben Hammond's terrific. Tyler Johnson did a really, really nice job. Didn't have as many rebounds as I thought he would have. We just had to find a way to win. I knew going in that they were good. I was nervous about it. And I'm proud of our team. Find ourselves down 19. We can't get anything going. Cut it to eight was significant. Inch by inch. Seven [Chandler Cuthrell] and six [Kacper Klaczek] are good players on the front line. They're difficult matchups. I don't have a matchup for Gurdak with that lineup. I thought he fought and did a good job with seven. It's a hard match up for Amani. Consequently, he's got saddled with fouls throughout the game. So, enough of that. We get to the break, 11-2. We got 18 head knockers in league play coming right at us with UVA obviously, December 31st in the Cassell."

On what was the switch that flipped after being down 19:

"We got a couple of balls knocked down. We had a couple of turnovers. The Cassell got in an uproar. I think in turn, our team got in an uproar and we started guarding. They didn't feel us at all in the first 10 minutes, 12 minutes. But they certainly felt us in the overtime period, in the second half. They only shot 11 foul shots, which is big. They shoot a lot of fouls. Seven, Cuthrell, has shot 97 foul shots. Our highest foul shot attempt person is Amani with 47. He is fouled all the time. So, great job from our team and again, we had to find a way to win the game, however we get there. Yeah, that's our third overtime game. We've won all three."

On what Tech did to stunt Elon from long range later in the contest (7/17 in 1H, 3/13 in 2H):

"It's amazing what happens when you pressure the ball and you play with high hands and you're there on the catch; you put them in duress and they're not as comfortable and that ball's not moving from side to side. And that's what they all did collectively in the second half."

On Isaac Herrell's first-half effort (10 points on 4-for-4 shooting) and what led to him doing so well:

"Making a bunch of damn shots, I know that. He's a good player. We knew it going in and he was a prominent person on their scouting report for us. I thought we finally got the right matchup on him. We had some guys go nose-to-nose with him. Didn't offer a whole lot of help uh and did uh did a better job on it."

Q: Mike, the fact that you were able to win without players that were not able to play and the fact that you're able to win despite being big down by 19 points in the first half. What does that tell you about this team?

"This team's got a lot to them. High-character people, they care. They want to play the right way. They want to share the ball. Neo [Avdalas] not being here contributes to 13 turnovers. and he does such a remarkable job at cracking the defense and putting the ball in different places. We missed that. We missed a lot of things from uh his absence. But again, take nothing away from the kids that uh that stepped on the floor and competed. I knew going in we had high character people, that it matters to them, [they] want to play great basketball for Virginia Tech. That was clearly evident this afternoon in our home."

On whether the 19-point deficit was more down to defense or down to missing players:

"They played well, they played a good basketball game. They've got good players. I saw a bunch of games. Saw them beat Richmond a couple nights ago. Saw [them] have [Wofford head coach Kevin Giltner] down 50-15 at the half. I saw them have [Appalachian State head coach Dustin Kerns], one of the best assistant coaches I've ever had, talking about taking a man behind the woodshed and pulling his pants down, ripping his rear end. They did that to both those guys. So, I watched those early in the week after our Sunday game with UMES. It had my attention, and I think we had our team's attention going into it. It was nothing remotely close to overlooking Elon, getting into the break, league play, all that stuff. We had to win. We did it. It's all that matters."

Q: You had some young guys, Christian, Sin'Cere [Jones] in down the stretch. What was your message to them? Was it simply just find a way to win?

"I don't know. I don't know there's any message. Play the way you practice, fight, compete, adhere to the things that are important to us. There's no pump them up, rah-rah stuff. Here it is. Next man up, go play. Rebound, defend, don't turn the damn ball over. I thought all in all, they did that quite, quite well."

On whether the defensive uptick was due to more physicality:

"Yeah, nothing more than that. Again, they were very comfortable. Consequently, we're on our heels and they're banging shots left and right. If I did [say it], pardon me for being redundant. they missed 15 shots in the first half at one point maybe for the half. And they had grabbed eight of those offensive rebounds which is staggering. I mean, just unconscionable. And it's amazing, fellas, the game, the game in my time, 40 years. I haven't seen any of UVA at all. We'll see a bunch of it here in the next 10 days. But UVA really shoots the ball well, and they're way up in the country in grabbing their own misses. Like 42% of their misses. Elon does the same thing. Elon sends five guys to the offensive glass. Didn't pass very well in that area today. We'll have to be a lot better than that against the Cavaliers on December 31st."

[Editor's note: Young then remarked, "One more and then I'm out of here."}

On the final play involving Gurdak scoring the game-winning bucket:

"I tell you what, Thomas, there are a lot of plays, I don't have a very clear recollection. I thought Isaiah Pasha did a great job. He could have been fouled. I thought Izaiah Pasha did a great job in contesting that ball out of timeouts. They've got seven who can go the distance with it. They've got six, that's what they tried to do in the end of regulation. You're all over the place. Great job from Izaiah getting the top of his jump and blocking the bottom of the ball."

On what Young has learned about his team from the non-conference portion:

"Wish we could have played better against St. Mary's and VCU. We're in position to be in position. Let's put it that way. And we look forward to getting them back December 26th and getting back on the floor and getting better. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, alright. To all of you, I wish you well."