Everything From Virginia Tech HC Mike Young After Win Over Charleston Southern

Virginia Tech men's basketball head coach Mike Young spoke to the media following the Hokies' 98-67 season-opening victory over Charleston Southern. Here's the entirety of what Young had to say:

Opening statement:

"Good to see everyone. Credit to Charleston Southern. Those kids were well prepared. Coach [Saah] Nimley does a good job. They beat us on some actions that we were not prepared for. And they ran it with great pace and they caught us on our heels a little bit and in some things, righted the ship in the second half. Amani Hansberry was outstanding. Carter [Brown, the student information director for men's basketball] just told me coming in, we had two players with double doubles, Amani and Tobi, for the first time since 2023. [Neoklis Avdalas'] nine assists and some timely shots across the board, but they made eight threes in the first half. That'll put you behind the eight-ball. Consequently, we come in up three [Editor's note, the margin was four at halftime]. They score 38 first-half points and we limit them to three made threes in the second half, and I thought we wore them down. They weren't nearly as comfortable in the second half. And I guess that was 30 points for them or 29 points for them in the second. [Editor's note: It was 29.] We've got a long way to go. I think that much is obvious. You try to implore upon them the different speed of the game. It's a good practice team, my bunch. They want to do what you ask them to do, but you see it moving at that speed. We'll certainly see speeds a lot quicker than that. But 11, [Brycen] Blaine is a really good basketball player."

[Editor's note: Young then pivoted to doing a different style of media than is typically organized.]

"We're going to do something different... Do we have any students in here tonight? [Editor's note: Several raised their hands, including Virginia Tech on SI writers Josh Poslusny and Kaden Reinhard (who was covering on behalf of 3304 Sports), Collegiate Times' Dylan Tefft and Sam Mostow, Tech Lunch Pail's Tucker Terry, Sons of Saturday's Evan Bainer, 3304 Sports' Haden Tolbert and myself.] All right, you students are first. Ask what you want to ask. I'll get to [Mark Berman of the Roanoke Times] and [David Cunningham of Tech Sideline] and these other guys next. Go... new policy around here. Berman waits."

[Editor's note: Young opened the floor to questions, which started with myself.]

On what was the catalyst for the 19-point run in the second half:

"Greater attention to detail. Just a greater attention to playing the damn thing the way we want to play it. All right, if we went under a ball, under a handoff in the first half, they stopped behind it and nailed it. All right, that's what good players do. You can't do that. We didn't do it in the second half. We did one time and they made one. But they're nice young men. They're like little people. They don't always learn their lesson with that first whack on their backside. It takes them a little bit. We're going to get better with that."

On what allowed the Hokies to be effective in regards to rebounding:

"We're bigger. We're bigger than they are. And we've got really good ones. [Tobi] Lawal jumps over the moon for some of them. Amani [Hansberry]'s got great hands and long arms. He plays a lot bigger than his 6'8 frame. Tyler Johnson's a moose three spot. We're sliding him down to the for some. I think we've got the makings of a good rebounding team. That's a that's an area that that that needs to continue to improve."

[Editor's note: Young then remarked to Collegiate Times' Dylan Tefft that he wished he had some of "that [Tefft's] hair." Tefft was the following one to speak.]

Q: Was there anything specific you saw them doing in that first half that kind of allowed them to hang around?

"Well, the tricky part, I take nothing away from them. The tricky part of game ones is you just don't have anything. All right, they've got a completely different roster. You can go back and watch as much film from last year as you want, but it's going to be different. So, just a matter of catching up to it and having a better look at it. Don't want to give you the impression we made a bunch of wholesale changes at the half. We did not. And the fives got the ball at the top. You want to stay in your phone booth and take a back cut through the chest, ready to chase him off of any handoffs or the action on the other side of it. Just better defensive basketball from the Hokies."

On seeing Hansberry improve throughout the contest:

"Yeah, we thought we could get 20 catch-and-shoot threes for him. He didn't make a three in in our two scrimmages. And he can really shoot it. I think he was so open a couple of times in the first half, he got back on his heels. He wasn't as comfortable. His rhythm toward the basket wasn't as good as it typically is. But he did get a couple down. and I thought he made a couple of really nice balls. Had a couple really nice plays around the rim, rebounded really well as he does every day. He's really good, good players and talent takes over and that certainly was the case with him tonight."

On how Young's newcomers played:

"Pretty good. Christian Gurdak kind of saved our bacon there a little bit in the first half. Thought Christian stepped to the plate and played. [Antonio] Dorn will be back in uniform on Saturday against the Friars. [Sin'Cere] Jones in limited minutes helped us. [Izaiah] Pasha did a nice job. Jailen Bedford huge shot over opposite our bench in the second half to take it to 11, 12 I think and he called timeout. So, progress in the last 20 minutes and progress that we'll continue to see as we go through the season."

[Editor's note: Young then said, "What do you got there, Dale Earnhardt? That's a hell of a hat to come in here to a press conference with," to Virginia Tech On SI staff writer Josh Poslusny, who was wearing a Jeff Gordon hat.]

On whether Hansberry's nine threes will become a habit:

"I'm not going to discourage him. I didn't realize that. I didn't recognize that. Again, how they play, they play their five right in the middle of the lane. Now, with a team that doesn't have a post player that can shoot it, they do not, that can be really annoying. They catch all the back cuts and all that stuff. But with us, if you've got that, and I told him [after] he missed a couple in the first half, I said 'Don't turn one down.' I want to infuse him with that level of confidence. He's got a beautiful stroke. And again, he got a couple down and I think that rim looks like a bathtub to you and and he played a great great second half."

On nine players playing 10-plus minutes:

"Well, we do have quality depth and we're going to watch Sin'Cere Jones continue to come on here. Christian Gurdak's gotten his feet wet. Played a good ball game against Duquesne in that scrimmage, I played him more than I intended for a couple of reasons. Amani had fouls. It's a reason I hate those [exhibition] games. But they're making progress. I do think that we can play nine right now. I think as the year wears on, maybe we can get to 10. It's hard to play 11. It's just hard to play that many."

On Lawal and Hansberry's fit in the frontcourt:

"Good. And we're still toying with some different things. Tobi, I don't know if he made one tonight. Toby shot the ball well. He was 0-for-2. Tobi shot the ball well in the early going. Didn't have that tonight. 3-of-9 from three for Amani. I think a really good one-two punch. I think they complement one another well. They give us some flexibility defensively. They're both really good rebounders. So, I think a very nice combination from our front line. I tell you what I'm not going to do, Tucker [Terry], I'm not going to turn down a double double from both of them night in night out. Hansberry, 19 points, 13 rebounds. Tobi, 20 points, and 12 rebounds. Sign me up, a pretty good combination."

On Avdalas controlling facilitation in the second half:

"Yeah, I thought he did. And he's just so anxious to get going offensively. We need for him to score some, but he's such a difference maker with his passing and his playmaking. And I thought Hokie fans saw a sample of that tonight. He can really spray the thing around and does some things that are quite remarkable. Nine assists, one turnover. That's Avdalas. He's a great one."

On the team's physicality, especially in getting to the line:

"I felt pretty good. I tell you what now, fellas. You watch games across the country and I talked to friends of mine, Jake Debler, Ohio State, others. They're calling these doggone fouls, left and right. They want to lessen that level of physicality. That will continue to wane as we go along. It typically does. But that's how the game is being called. You got to adjust to it."

Q: Then they got ahead of you a little bit there. What was that first time out like settling your team in?

"It's game one and there's going to be other moments like that. They're all learning experiences. We weren't solving any world problems. There wasn't any yelling and screaming. What's next? What would we have to do to to figure this out? They did a nice job with that."

On having Avdalas with professional experience:

"It's good. That game's [European style of basketball] different than ours. And I'm not saying our game's better or their game is better. The European game is different. They got really good players now. Really good players and really good coaches. This is a little bit faster I think and certainly more physicality, just more knocking and banging, but he's smart. Super smart and he's figuring it out and coming on. I thought tonight was a great start for Neo."

On if he is encouraged by only seven turnovers:

"Yeah, I am. 19 assists, seven turnovers. Those are Virginia Tech numbers. Yeah, I felt good about it. I really did. Now, that'll be a big key on Saturday against Providence, who's really getting after people. We're going to have to take care of the ball."

On the likelihood of Lawal and Hansberry being leading scorers for most games:

"it wouldn't surprise me. It wouldn't surprise me. [Jaden] Schutt's been terrific. He's been really, really good. Was good tonight. He wasn't great. 2-for-5 from three. I can't describe to you how well he has played. Ben Hammond has been very good. We got a number of guys that that can score it. Good to see Tyler Johnson get a three down, nine points and six rebounds, three offensive. So, I think we've got a number of kids that can score. It would not surprise me in the least if we came out of the season and Tob and Amani were our two leading scorers six, seven, eight times."

On Young saying he had a good practice team and what it allows him to do:

"Just how hard they go at it and how ready they are daily. That preseason stuff, those 30 practices leading up to this game, a lesser team and an unserious team doesn't handle day by day with the right stuff. All right? You just want to get to the season and play. You're over there knocking on each other day after day, two two and a half hours a day. But this is a good practice team. They like one another. They're competitive. They make it hard. They make it hard for you to do the things you want to do."

On three-point shooting in first half (15.4%) and what he'd like to adjust:

"I've got a good shooting team. Good to see us get it corrected here. Nine of 28 for the game. 32%. Eh. Okay. I think we're a little nervous. Which is hard for me to believe, but you got to understand they are young people and, Hokie fans and Cassell Guard up there, it's a little bit different, but we'll get settled in."

Q: What did you like about tonight specifically and then what would you like to see heading forward as you head into the season?

"Much, much better defensively in the second half. I thought we rebounded pretty well throughout. I thought we were really good offensively certainly in that first 10 minutes. A 19-0 run in the second. I can't think that clearly about this one. I just want to see the process continue to evolve as we go along and I know it will for this team."

On Kevin Giltner exiting for the Wofford head coaching job and David Moats entering, how the offensive burden staff-wise has shifted as a result:

"I miss him, alright. He was with me a long time as you know. But the mechanics of that thing, that's the coaching world. And you move along. And he had an opportunity to run his own program. Before he was offered the job, I had made quite a few calls to friends. We got to do what's best for Virginia Tech. I was going to do what was best for him. And a school that I love greatly, but we got to take care of the Hokes and David Moats is doing a really, really nice job. The offensive stuff has been absorbed by Chester [Frazier] who's got a great feel for it. Coach [Eli] Atzenhoffer is responsible for the board. And that's going to continue to get better as we go along, too. And I thought I thought those two guys, we had a nice level of communication over there tonight. And again, that will improve."

On prepping for Providence:

"I don't know anything about them. I know the kid from Vanderbilt. I don't know his name yet. [Editor's note: The player that Young is referring to is Jason Edwards.] [The kid] that was good for Vandy last year is there and is playing really good. I do know Duncan Powell from Georgia Tech who is a good basketball player. Bit undersized, but he's a moose. And Oswin [Erhunmwunse], big kid in the post, is a shot blocker, lob threat, dunker. But I haven't seen any of it, alight. We can't get the Pitt game, who they scrimmaged. We can't get the Harvard game, who they scrimmaged. But we'll have Holy Cross tonight when we get back in the office and we'll get started on that right away."