Everything From Virginia Tech HC Mike Young After OT Win Over South Carolina

Virginia Tech men's basketball head coach Mike Young spoke to the media after the Hokies' 86-83 overtime win over South Carolina. Here's the entirety of what Young had to say:

Opening statement:

"Last two times I've been in this building, our team won. [The] one in '19 was by 20. I like that one a lot more than this uh this one tonight, but we'll take it. I think the world of Lamont [Paris] and what he's doing, it's the game. Christ [Essandoko] goes out here and bangs two threes. Give me a break, man. Give me a break. Kid's got a beautiful stroke and I take nothing away from him. But two in the same game and we weren't going to give it to him. We wanted to contest him and that kid steps the plate and scores. We have great admiration for Meechie [Johnson]. Elijah Strong, we're very familiar with having played him at Boston College. Eli Ellis is bringing a lot to their team. Mike [Sharavjamts] and that offensive rebound down there. We're fouling perimeter shooters. Thank goodness it's the second day of December. We moved to 7-2 after two really disappointing losses in the Bahamas at Battle 4 Atlantis. Feel good about this one, but man, we need to get back and rest up tomorrow and prepare practice and get better. We got a long way to go."

On how proud Young is of the group given the personnel he had at the end of the game due to foul trouble:

"Toni [Antonio] Dorn made some mistakes. They all made some mistakes as part of the game, but I thought all in all, they really gave us a lift. Toni played 30 minutes. I'm not sure he's come close to that, But we're in a bit of a different circumstance now, with Tobi down for a bit. Dorn has eight points, only two rebounds. Amani Hansberry 14 rebounds. Christian Gurdak helped us. Sin'Cere Jones came in six minutes in the first half and helped us. We've got the makings of a good team. We're not there yet. We'll get there though."

On what Young thinks the team did better than the two previous games, both Tech losses:

"Golly day. I don't want to be critical. We just won. It's hard. Trying to get so many things to them. It's a cardinal sin to foul perimeter shooters. It's a cardinal sin to do a couple of the things that we did. We had four or five dead possessions with just really bad shots. My god. But when the ball moves and we've got good player movement and we're screening effectively, we're really hard to defend. And I thought we had some really really good moments defensively that must continue to come on here as we move along."

On Lawal's injury status and the nature of the injury:

"It's a lower body injury and it's going to be a bit. I don't know two weeks, I don't know a month, I don't know six weeks yet. We'll know more as we go along, but it's not going to be a quick turnaround. But he's healthy. Could have been a lot worse. And he's getting excellent care with our medical team, so he'll be fine."

On the level of emphasis for the team to not foul out (Neo Avdalas and Tyler Johnson did foul out):

"Well, you never want to foul out good players, but again, Chris making two threes, that's a part of the game. It hurts and you don't want that to happen. It's a great officiating crew. Love Doug Shows and Bart [Lenox]. Good, good crew. We're already a man down here a little bit. But [it's] an opportunity for other guys to step to the plate and help our team win. They did that and I'm proud of them for that part of it."

On the difference of this year's Gamecocks squad compared to prior iterations:

"That one two years ago was good. Pardon me, I don't remember. Myles Stute hurt us and Myles being out right now hurts the Gamecocks. Meechie was on that team, was really a good player on that team. Hurt us in Charlotte, I believe it was. I like the combination of Chris and Jordan [Butler] and [Nordin Kapic], I think is his name. 24. And Lamont is spreading them in there, bit by bit. 20 [Hayden Assemian] is going to help their team. I can't pronounce his last name, I'm sorry, Hayden. I like Mike a lot. I think they've got the makings of a good team. They could have won both those games at the Greenbrier against Northwestern and Butler. So, I'm sure Lamont says the same thing. It's December 2nd. We got a long way to go. We're going to continue to get better. And so are they."

On South Carolina's high assist-rate, high three-point shooting rate and the emphasis to take away the kickouts:

"I think, correct me if I'm wrong, half of their shots are from three. They don't turn the ball over, neither do we. We had 18 assists and nine turnovers tonight. We're second in the country in turnovers per game. Fewest. And South Carolina's 62, 61, somewhere in there I believe. God, we do some really, really un-fundamental things defensively. Meechie is going to drive it with his right hand. That gap has got to be there and it's got to sit down on it until Meechie puts two hands on it and delivers the ball to the next person. And we let him get outside of our hip a couple of times. We didn't have the gap integrity that that we needed. But I think it's a product of most of Lamont's [teams], even going back to our days in the Southern Conference. His teams weren't going to beat themselves. If you beat them, you beat them. And I think that this current team has those same characteristics."

On the decision to put Dorn into the starting lineup:

"Because of them. A lot of times, you're trying to counteract what they're doing. Lamont started 24 and 20 [Assemian and Kapic, respectively], I think, in the most recent game, Charleston Southern Friday or Saturday, that we watched uh over the weekend. We were going to start smaller if he did that. And he started tonight Jordan and Kapic. So, we thought we could go bigger and give Gurdak a bite there in the first half. He did well with it. So, that was the thought process going into the game."

On Ben Hammond and his evolution and his growth:

"Plays really hard. His shooting numbers are down a little bit. But his impact on the game is not down. He's impacting the game very, very well. 5-for-9 tonight. Those are Ben Hammond numbers. 2-for-4 from three, 4-for-4 from the foul line. He had two assists and four turnovers. He's a really good basketball player. I consider him a starter for this team. Neo had eight assists and one turnover. That's brilliant. He's a good one, you know that. You've seen him a lot."

On outrebounding South Carolina despite having no Tobi Lawal:

"They didn't have an offensive rebound in the first half, Mark. We clobbered them pretty good in the first half on the glass. They had five in the second. A big one from Mike, that Tyler Johnson missed a box out and Mike was able to get up over top of him and stuck it in the hole. I think that was Tyler's fifth foul, if memory serves me. We got to continue to come on. St. Mary's blistered us and so did VCU and that's inexcusable. We typically offensive rebound very, very well. We got to do a better job on the offensive glass. Tyler Johnson was quiet. He's not typically quiet. He's typically loud. That won't last very long. He's a good player and instrumental to this team success. I love this city. I love this state. Good luck to the Gamecocks. I wish all of you well. Have a good night."