Everything From Virginia Tech's Kilah Freelon and Mel Daley After Win Over Niagara

Virginia Tech forward Kilah Freelon and guard Mel Daley spoke to the media after the Hokies' 83-46 victory over Niagara. Here's the entirety of what Freelon and Daley had to say:

On what the 5-0 start has told them about the team:

KF: "I feel like this tells us just how hard we have to constantly work and just how connected we are with each other and just how much we want to push and grow every game."

MD: "Yeah, I think games like this kind of help our chemistry and it gives us confidence going into conference."

On playing a variety of styles and how that's helped preparation-wise:

MD: "Like you said, different styles, they prepare us for different things. So, with these teams that are kind of run-and-jump, we kind of have to take care of the ball, look before passing and stuff. I think with Niagara as well as Gardner-Webb, they kind of helped us prepare for some of the pressure that we might face in the future."

KF: "I definitely feel the same. A lot of it is about the pressure about having to be able to recognize the differences in each game and just be prepared no matter what."

On Amani Jenkins receiving quality minutes and the development they've seen since she arrived on campus:

KF: "A lot of it is just her work ethic. Each day, it grows and she grows as a player. She is constantly listening to all the things. Especially with the pro group, she's constantly listening, asking questions and just making sure she's doing the right things before she goes out there. It's always trying to boost her confidence. And I feel like each game, it's gotten better."

On how each feels they have assimilated into Duffy's system:

KF: "I feel like I loved her system and everything. So, when I was recruited, I feel like a lot of it comes with being able to gel with our teammates, for sure. Just how she coaches us and how she wants us to just work hard. It's not so much of being perfect, but it's about working hard, being supportive of each other, making sure you're just constantly wanting to grow and be relentless, no matter what we're doing."

MD: "Yeah, I would agree. I think in terms of what Kilah said about pushing, I haven't really been pushed like this before in my career of five years. So, I really enjoy it. On top of the fact that she loves to run and me, Kilah, any of any of the guards honestly, we love to run. So, I think it just makes it easier to play in her system."

Q: Really balanced scoring night offensively, 20 assists. What allowed for that free-flowing offense tonight?

KF: "I feel like that's a lot of how we practice. Honestly, it's not a lot of just one-on-ones, me ball. A lot of it is we're trying to share the ball. That's how we are most successful and any of us aren't very selfish or anything. So, I feel like that's what makes it so easy to get these 20 assists and all, because we want to see each other succeed."

MD: "Yeah, absolutely. I think sometimes, we even get in trouble for oversharing and overpassing the ball because they'll pass up shots seeing if someone has a better shot. But yeah, like Kilah said, very unselfish team and it's great to see that a lot of people were in the stat sheet today."

Q: What'd you like about how you guys played defense today?

MD: "I thought we were aggressive. I like that we were in the passing lanes. I think we kind of came into a mindset of 'This is our home court and we're going to defend it.'"

On what's left to learn about this team:

KF: "I feel like there's always something we can learn from each other and constantly. that's the game of basketball is learning, improving and just adapting to everything. So, each of these games is going to show us something different and I'm just excited to see what it is."

MD: "Yeah, same."

Q: You guys had a kind of cold start to the second half and Coach Duffy calls timeout. What did she tell you guys in that timeout? Then, you guys responded with a 10-0 run. What kind of energized you guys out of that?

MD: "Basically, 'Lock in' is was the gist of it. I think, third quarters for us, we seem to start a little slow. I think we need to do better of coming out of the half and kind of starting with that first quarter right from the punch. So, I think basically it was like get it together, honestly."

KF: "Yeah, that was mainly it."

On if that experience is something that they can take and lean on in this upcoming stretch:

MD: "Yeah, absolutely. I think overall, we need to play four solid quarters and then come out the third quarter, after halftime. Even while being up as much as we were up, we need to come out as if we're down."

KF: "I definitely agree. It's a work-in-progress and I feel as though each game, it's gotten better as we're attempting to try and fix that and shift it. But just the fact of we're able to tell each other ourselves just to lock in, we need to focus and everything. Coach Duffy definitely had us locked in today."

On the 12-for-16 shooting in the second quarter:

MD: "Wow. 12-for-16."

KF: "Honestly, I feel like it was just great shot selection and just being able to find each other. It wasn't really like rush shots. It wasn't just random shots. They were a lot of confident and well-executed shots."

MD: "Yeah, I think we were just kind of in the flow. We very much controlled the game. So, I think within us being able to control the game, we got the shots we wanted."