Everything From Virginia Tech HC Mike Young After UNC Loss

Virginia Tech men's basketball head coach Mike Young spoke to the media after the Hokies' 89-82 loss to No. 18 North Carolina Saturday evening; here's the entirety of what Young had to say.

On what made North Carolina so tough to defend in the second half:

"We've got good players. They run good things, and they hurt us on the glass a little bit more than I anticipated. They shot [30 free-throw] shots. We shot 11. [Seth] Trimble is playing really well. Henri [Veesaar] is playing really well. I don't think it's a whole lot more elaborate an answer than that. They were a little bit better offensively than we were defensively."

On what makes Veesaar so difficult to contend with:

"As big as a house. Got really long arms, that incredible touch around the basket, and they really struggled at the foul line. They didn't tonight. He's good. He's a great player. Saw him last year at Arizona, and lo and behold, he's in the ACC, He's a really good college basketball player. Terrific."

On the performance of Neoklis Avdalas (19 points and five assists):

"Thought he played well. Thought we lost her composure some the second half, which you can't do. Man, we were good in the first half. Should have been up something. Gurdak had a miscue. They're fighting, they're trying, dadgummit. Neo had a pretty good day."

On foul trouble:

"They've got to stop calling so many."

On whether North Carolina changed its defensive coverage and whether that had an impact on Virginia Tech:

"I don't think so. I didn't think so. I thought some of our shot selection was bad. Also thought some of our shot selection, again, that comes back to the to the composure piece of it. And you know that. You know there's going to be some peaks and valleys. You know they’re going to take off for you for a 6-0 run. They did that. We found ourselves down eight. I don't think I called time out the first time we went down. They then got fouled and cut it back to five, which gets the ship righted again. But we're 29 games in, or whatever we are, and you find yourself in so many different situations. We've been in that situation a number of situations, a number of times. And the only disappointment I have is our lack of composure, our lack of solid basketball, when we had our back against the wall a little bit. You can't do that, certainly not on the road."

On having to play Christian Gurdak and Antonio Dorn with Amani Hansberry in foul trouble:

“It’s not the same. Those kids are giving us everything in the tank and Gurdak’s going to be really good, but come on. I mean, Hansberry plays six minutes in the first half, goddamn. Come on, man. Henri, No. 13? He needs to be on the floor. He’s a really good player. No. 7, Trimble? Needs to be on the floor. No. 13 from Virginia Tech? He needs to be on the floor. Call it on [someone else], don’t call a third one on him.”

Q: Coach, what was your vantage point when you saw Jaydon Young and Jailen Bedford get into a scuffle?

"Oh, it's nothing to that, nothing to that. You talking about two guys that don't want to fight. Let me assure you, I've been around some dudes who'll fight you. Those two guys don't want to fight."

On the return of Tyler Johnson:

"It was good to see him on the floor. He's such a critical part of our team, and has been on the shelf for a long time, and happy to be able to insert him. And I almost went there in the second half. Wasn't that he was bad, thought he was good. Thought he competed as they knew he's going to do that, but in that game, just wasn't comfortable enough. He'll play more on Tuesday, and he'll play more on Saturday at Virginia as I look ahead to the ACC Tournament."

On the win being a potential missed resume opportunity:

"We need to win Tuesday. Let's beat Boston College."