Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young met with the media to discuss the 82-73 loss at NC State.
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Opening statement...
Congratulations to the Wolfpack and Coach Wade, who I admire a lot. Go way back with him, he's doing a nice job with his team. We had our chances and played very well in the first half. We're down 12 at the half, we're terrible offensively. Missed, had nine turnovers, which you can't do anywhere, certainly not on the road against a good team.
Better job in the second, cut it to three. Had a couple of bad possession, Hollman makes a three over there. And Copeland does what he does. Paul is playing really well. What they've done from three over the last three or four games is quite impressive. I thought they had three main threes in the first half.
When they lose, they win, they make 12 or 16 as they had against SMU. I think it was, so not quite good enough against Wolfpack. Not quite good enough on the road, but we did some good things also. We'll head to Clemson on Wednesday and tee it up again.
I'm gonna start here, wherever it's got the mic. Mike, you held Williams to just one basket, I believe. What made him so hard to guard, even though you were able to pull that off?
Well, they've got good players. Tre Hollman's a good player. Copeland and his ability, 16 assists, zero turnovers he had against SMU. And we thought we could take those shots away, the ones where he's backing it out, he just flips it over there to Paul. Or flips it back here to Darrion, that you've got to eliminate.
We did that. And I thought we did, all in all, Mark, a good job with Paul. They weren't catching shoot plays. He was coming off of some actions. And we tried to go underneath, which you can't do with a kid like him. And we got stuck, and the ball gets in the basket. So Williams didn't have his best stuff. He's still a presence. He's still a factor in that game.
He's such a talented basketball player. And the way they were defending Ben Hammond today, was that giving him certain problems there to get a basket today?
Yeah, yeah, they wanted to take the ball out of his hands. They want somebody else to bring up the floor, which we've seen. As good as he's been, he wasn't great today. That will change direction here quickly. He's really good, you know that. Stay here, second row.
Neo, he had a very efficient five from six with a field of 14 points. What'd you like about his performance today?
I thought he was great. I thought he was great. He looked more like he said himself. I think he was two for three from three. He struggled here. We can get him going, Lucas. If we can get him going. Tobi Lawal was better today, 15 rebounds, 17 points. Those are good numbers.
Ben Hammond has been our leading scorer coming into this game, and he draws a collar. They did a nice job on him. But still, four assists from Ben, zero turnovers. So we had some positive signs.
Much too porous defensively in the second half. Speaking of rebounds, you had 12 offensive rebounds and 17 second chance points. What were you guys doing on the offensive glass that was working for you today? It's not so much what you're doing as you're going after them.
Every time that ball comes off the rim, that's an offensive opportunity. And the wall can jump over Raleigh, to snare balls. And Hansberry's an excellent offensive rebounder. Gurdak is big and strong. He's got really good hands. So sticking your nose in there and going after it.
Coach, Amani Hansberry won one from nine in the first half. What do you think sort of changed to allow him to be more effective in the second half?
Wasn't himself today, Thomas. He still did some really good things. Still had a hard time playing without him. He just wasn't himself. And I don't have a great explanation. Still, the kid has 19 and 7. Give me a break.
But turns around and plays great basketball. He's an all-timer. And we continue to get that. Have Ben come on, which he will. And Bedford was good. Honey did a good job on Copeland, the ball at all. We're going to be fine.
Coach, in the second half, after being down 12, the most you've been down this season, can you talk about how y'all were able to counteract State's runs in the second half and make the game closer to 3-1?
This isn't a criticism. They're going to play the way they play, all right? I say this with admiration. They play the way they're going to play. No agenda here. They will give you the opportunity to get back, all right?
They'll also punch you again if you don't take advantage of those opportunities. So we were able to cut it back to three. We did some nice things. We had a couple of second chance baskets. Shoot got one down opposite our bench. But you got to keep it going. And it was Holloman, Holloman, that they got one down. I think it was opposite their bench that hurt us. And we had a hard time recovering from there.
Do you say that the qualifier there, because they shoot so many threes, that they're going to miss some and give you a chance to get back?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And again, Joe, don't misinterpret what I'm saying here. I say it with great admiration. I love what Will's doing. I really like their team. I like their pieces. They're going to play the way they play. They're going to play the way they play. And I don't say that disrespectfully.
You mentioned your turnovers. Was their defense doing certain things to cause those turnovers to them?
To speed you up with some things in the full court, I would admonish my team and our ability to find a better pace, a better flow into the offensive end. But they do. And Will's team, he's doing it at Chattanooga a long time ago. Speed you up a little bit. And we didn't handle some of that great at times. We handled it very, very well. Best wishes, everybody. Have a good Saturday.
