Everything From Virginia Tech Head Coach Mike Young After 81-78 Loss to Wake Forest

Virginia Tech men's basketball head coach Mike Young spoke to the media after the Hokies' 81-78 defeat at the hands of Wake Forest Saturday afternoon; here's the entirety of what Young had to say:

On what Wake Forest did in its pick-and-roll coverage:

"More aggressive. And my god, holy cow, first four minutes. Then, 14 [turnovers] in the first half but they were more aggressive."

On Neoklis Avdalas' seven turnovers:

'They were aggressive. I just said it. They were aggressive on the ball. We'll get better from it."

On fewer turnovers in the second half, better shooting and the adjustments Young made:

"Got our feet under us. Started to explore those things that we saw on film and had prepared to find in here from the start. And I thought we got Wake Forest back in their heels a little bit and were able to play Virginia Tech basketball. But hats off to them. I thought with everything going on, three fouls with [Christian] Gurdak, three fouls with [Amani] Hansberry, to be down four at the break was a real positive step. But hats off to the Demon Deacons. They were a little bit better than we are. We guarded the last possession as well as we can guard. [Nate] Calmese just rose up, made a shot. And that kid had a good ball game today."

On Sin'Cere Jones playing at the five and his evolution:

"Coming on. He's coming on and I think it'll bode well for us as we've got a shot to get [Tobi]. My wife would kill me if she knew I was in here with gum in my mouth. So, there you go. I will look back at the end and what we have managed. And I told you after the UVa game on Wednesday, we're going to get whole here soon. And we'll be in pieces. We've got a shot to get Tobi back on Wednesday [against Stanford]. That remains to be seen and that's barring any unforeseen setbacks between now and then. That is not a guarantee. But what Gurdak has brought to our team, what Sin Jones, what others have [done. They've] picked up the slack here and have made us better. That will bode well for the future."

On Jailen Bedford's season-high 25 points:

"He was good. He was good. He was really good against Providence. He was really good. He's had some great moments. He's really helped our team. He's the best on-ball defender we've got, to the point we moved him off of Juke [Harris] and onto Calmese there at different times. It seemed to me like Calmese was taking 80% of their shots. So, we moved JB over to him and [Bedford] did a good job on him. Maybe we should have had JB on Calmese on that last one. Maybe he was there and we got switched up with a guard-on-guard ball screen."

On what more the team needed down the stretch:

"I agree. I concur. I'm not sure yet. I'm sorry, I wish I had a better answer for you. Possessions were pretty good. They made one more play than we did. We had a couple of tough calls. Not sure they were good or bad. We'll see that on film, but I thought those guys did a really good job. Again, the Demon Deacons were just a little bit better than we were today."

On Wake Forest's aggression in the paint and how it frustrated Avdalas:

"He was visibly frustrated. And as a young person, you better come on, better grow up. It's a big boy game. It's the Atlantic Coast Conference. And when something doesn't go your way, you can't drop your dauber and sulk. You got to bring it. And I thought he did a better job of that in the second half, made some good plays for us."

On Amani Hansberry's 19 points, 10 rebounds and his evolution:

"Oh gosh, Thomas. You've seen a lot of games. The kid is invaluable. How many total minutes did he play? [Editor's note: It was 27.] Would have played 33, 34, 35. That burns me. Burns me that that happened. But he's a heck of a basketball player. We have a hard time without him, as he's such a great communicator and such a great connector on both ends of the floor. He's had a great year. I think that's only going to continue. He's an all-timer and you know how much I enjoy coaching him."

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