On Thursday, Virginia Tech men’s basketball head coach Mike Young and sophomore David N’Guessan joined Mike Burnop on Tech Talk Live. They discussed the current stretch of basketball for the Hokies, including Wednesday’s win at NC State.
Mike Young
On the NC State win:
My first thought is I certainly do enjoy talking to you a lot more after two wins than getting my hind end whipped somewhere. Good to win down there last night. Great start, played really good basketball, got some shots down. I thought we were really, really good defensively in both halves in the halfcourt. We had some real deficiencies in transition and our team by-in-large has been quite good in that regard over the course of the season.
Worked on it a little bit today in practice in preparation for Boston College on Saturday. We gotta shore that up. Again, it’s not a glaring weakness, this team has been very good, but we got outside of ourselves a little bit, didn’t communicate like we needed to. We didn’t get a body on a body and consequently, [Terquavion] Smith got a couple of transition threes down, [Casey] Morsell got a basket down because we weren’t matched properly. That’s a big component, a big part of our defense.
On the 15-0 start to the game:
I’d like to see more of them, I can tell you that. We had a great look. Our preparation, our leadup to game time was good. We were immersed in that scouting report and ready to play the game. Just a great start, a great start on both ends.
[Keve] Aluma and [Justyn] Mutts were fabulous with their interior passing and their willingness to put the [ball] back on the perimeter. We gotta make some shots. We got kids that shoot the ball too well to squander wide open cracks at it from a number of guys, and they understand that.
They’re in there all the time working at it, but you gotta get those balls in the bottom of the barrel to loosen things up. They want to double Aluma and Mutts, well they’re gonna make the right play. Now, an extra pass and make a shot. Get the thing down. And they will. I’ve got great faith in them.
On the success in the paint in the first half and then moving away from it in the second:
I think they felt like they were gonna have a hard time guarding us and they did a little bit different stuff just to take us out of exactly what we wanted to do. We’ve got good players and intelligent guys and they’re gonna figure it out and we’re gonna go a different way with it. I thought our team did a pretty good job in that area, to be honest.
On holding N.C. State to 29% from three and 41% from the field shooting:
Disappointed, I thought we’d have them in the thirties in terms of field goal percentage. All-in-all, good job of guarding the arc. Again, I don’t care who it is. If we can get you to the halfcourt and that is a halfcourt game and not a full court game, we’re pretty salty.
Guys are responsible and see things happening before it happens. Be there before you’re supposed to be there, we reference often. Out rebounded them eleven, that was a big story in game one when they beat us in here. They outrebounded us six and [Dereon] Seabron just had his way with us in the last seven, eight minutes on the offensive glass. Did a much, much better job there.
Now the downside, we out rebound them eleven, they get four more shots than we do, maybe five and that is all attributed to our just poor ball-handling. Seventeen turnovers overall, it’s embarrassing and five turnovers in the last two minutes of the game when you’re about ready to walk out of there going away. We didn’t handle that part of it very well, but we will. We’ll figure it out.
How stressful was the last two minutes of the game?
Before the game, I’m sick to my stomach. I can’t stand it. During the course of the game, you deal with it. What’s next? It’s not looking back. I mean, you know this. You know this and all the games you’ve played and all the games you’ve broadcasted, nothing’s easy man. There’s nothing easy. Fortunate to get out of there. We’ll take it and move on down the line.
On Aluma getting in foul trouble early and other guys stepping up:
We probably had as many foul issues that I’ve dealt with to this point. We might have one that we’re trying to manage Mutts in the Notre Dame game, but to have three of those regulars. I’m not opposed to playing a person with two fouls, again, in the first half. Mutts picked up his second foul with seven to play in the first half of the Notre Dame game and I had every intention of putting him back in, but we were able to hold the line there and keep that margin in a workable area.
You certainly like to get him back or whoever it might be, with three fouls to give in the second half. Now, it’s burned me. Rare, but it’s happened, when a good player, a kid you depend on, picks up his third foul in the first half and I look like a dodo bird, but I’m not opposed to doing it. We had a comfortable lead. We were up sixteen, seventeen. [Storm] Murphy, [Hunter] Cattoor, and Aluma were all on the bench and I kinda decided then that I was gonna get them to the half, even if that lead would shrink to ten, eight, to get those guys back in the second half, again, all with only two fouls, would be beneficial for us.
We go in fourteen after John’s [Ojiako] big dunk and that was a significant play and good to get those guys back in pretty good shape in terms of fouls. The story of the game could very well have been [David] N’Guessan, [Darius] Maddox, [Sean] Pedulla, and John’s play over the course of that game.
David did a nice job defensively, again. He got a ball down on a second shot when he tipped it in. He had a nice finish over his right shoulder, left hand. Pedulla played a good ballgame. We got significant minutes, we got significant contributions from all those guys and awfully proud of them.
On nine guys getting in the scoring column and seventeen points off the bench:
Positive steps and let’s keep going. Those guys developed a level of confidence last night. They helped our team. Let’s continue it in Boston on Saturday.
On Sean Pedulla’s game-sealing free throws:
He’s a tough kid. And that’s some heat now. That building, league game. We’ve not handled some things very well. He goes up there with a one-point lead, with a one and one, and gets them both down. The dynamics of the game change. Instead of a two beating you or taking you to overtime, they’ve gotta have a three to tie it, and two big fouls. Big part of the game. That thing could’ve flipped in a hurry if he misses one or two.
On potentially fouling at the end of the game to avoid a game-tying three:
I’ve done both and I called timeout. If you recall, we had a full timeout. I can’t take that timeout back to Blacksburg with me, so I thought – and I brought Keith Kimball over, one of the officials who I like a lot, and I said, ‘Keith I’m gonna call timeout’ and he said, ‘You want to use that full?’ And I said, ‘Keith, what would you do? Would you call it?’ And he said, ‘Well, you can’t take it with you’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m going to take that timeout.’
And I considered it, I talked to our staff about it. It’s a feel. These guys that have never coached a game in their life and say you always foul up three in that situation, they don’t know what the heck they’re talking about. Sit in my shoes and that game’s on the line and you gotta do what you think is right for the team and we’re gonna do that and it worked out fine this time. Aluma grabbed the defensive rebound and to the locker room we go with a significant ACC win.
On Aluma’s performance:
Great ball, night in and night out. Didn’t have the angles. Didn’t have the daylight last night that he’s typically had and going back and watching it on film this morning, I could’ve done some things to help him and I gotta do everything I can to get him into different spots with the matchups that he has and will continue to have. Ten points, eleven boards on the road in this league.
I thought Mutts was terrific, yet again. Those guys, their interior passing and their willingness to spray that thing onto the backside where you typically have a two-on-one is really quite special and I don’t take that for granted. That’s hard for big people to do.
On Storm Murphy’s three to put the team up seven with around two minutes to play:
Chips were down and we’re taking on water. It doesn’t look great for the team in orange, but great pass, an excellent screen from Keve that pinned the guy down at the foul line area. That’s one thing he’s always been. He’s never been shy.
He was 0-5. Doesn’t have his head down. He’s not thinking about, ‘Oh my gosh, the pressure involved in this shot.’ He just rises up and does what he’s done throughout his career and made a huge shot, put us up five I think. Big swing. That was a significant swing.
On the charge Murphy took on the other end right afterwards:
That was a big one. Seabron wanted to get all the way to the rim. Hunter’s foul issues kind of set him back on his heels a little bit. He didn’t have the same pop about him on the ball. Gave up some ground with Seabron and Seabron’s really good, don’t get me wrong, but that was a great play. That was a team play from Storm to take that charge and, again, another play that helped us win.
On defending Dereon Seabron better than the first game against N.C. State:
Ball screen coverages were a lot better. I thought better defined last night going into that game. I thought Seabron had a really hard time. He’s a one-level scorer. You hear people talk about three level scorers, catch and shoot from three, catch and one bounce to fifteen and score, and can get all the way to the rim.
As good as Seabron is, he is a one-level scorer. He doesn’t want to shoot it from three. We’ve never seen him pull up and shoot the ball to fifteen. He wants to get to the rim and use that athleticism to get over top of people and our team, not just one person, our team did a really nice job in negating that part of his game.
On Casey Morsell’s performance for N.C. State:
Yeah, we lost him a couple of times. He’s a good college basketball player. When guys are open, in this league, at this level, they’re going to make that shot and Casey had a good night for them. We didn’t do a very good job guarding him, defensively.
On Jericole Hellems:
He’s a tough matchup. He’s more of a guard, so you want to switch 1-4 on ball screens and handoffs, but he is a good sized young man. Made two highly contested, hard shots, fading away from the basket, opposite of N.C. State’s bench in the second half. They’ve got good players, now. N.C. State has very good players.
On the Notre Dame win a week ago:
We needed it. We were desperate. I mean, we were desperate. [Notre Dame] comes in here all fired up, having won four, five, or six straight. I think they’ve got an elite offensive team. They’ve got lineups where they’ve got five guys on the floor that can really shoot the ball with [Nate] Laszewski, and [Dane] Goodwin, and Cormac Ryan, and Trey Wertz.
Blake Wesley’s a difference maker in the backcourt. Paul Atkinson doesn’t shoot the three, but he carved our tails up pretty good with his ability to score around the rim. Not a great start. We get down 6-8. I think the lead, I don’t think it ever got above ten, but not quite right. But we hung in there. We hung in there and we battled, and continued to fight.
I thought, all in all, terrific defensively guarding the arc. We wanted to limit them to fewer than six. Now, of course, in my masterful coaching, they had six at the half. Fortunately, we tightened screws on them in the second and they only had two. I thought that was a big swing in that game. Again, another good Hokie win.
Thought we played, all in all, a pretty darn good basketball game and we beat a good team. That Notre Dame team just frailed North Carolina a couple weeks back, beat Kentucky not long ago. Again, they were hot as a pistol coming in here, having won six straight, so good win for us.
On shooting so much better in the second half:
This is such a literal team. They take everything you say, they digest it and they live with it. We don’t want to get beat with a couple of things and I think I got them back on their heels a little bit and I couldn’t pull them out of it until we got back at the half.
The point, they have to feel us, they have to feel our defense, they have to feel the ball pressure. They’ve gotta have some sort of duress. If they don’t, they’re elite passers. Maybe the best passing team in our league. They got that thing popping all around the floor. The ball was out running our defense. Much, much better in the second half.
We had such a presence and such a good look, couple of really, just remarkable, remarkably athletic blocked shots from N’Guessan and Mutts. As disappointed as I was in our defense in allowing forty points, the second half was a complete reversal of that. I thought we were awfully good defensively, again, against a very good offensive Notre Dame team.
On the performances of Nahiem Alleyne and Justyn Mutts against Notre Dame:
Huge. Huge. Aluma [too]. If we can get three guys, three guys, doesn’t matter who it is, if we can get that kind of production out of three of those guys that were playing, that goes a long, long way. Good performance. We needed it. Man, did we need it. We got it, and now we got a chance to stack some wins and let’s keep it rolling on Saturday at Boston [College].
On the two missed free throws from Notre Dame that won the crowd bacon:
My first year, we didn’t have anybody in the stands that year, I never could figure out what was going on [last year]. A guy goes to the line, you want the home crowd, the Cassell Guard, to make a little noise for the kid on the line, but they miss that first one and it’s pandemonium.
The volume in that building starts to rise even more and kid misses the second one and the place, those guys lost it. I turned to one of my staff and said, ‘Is something the matter? What’s going on?’ They said ‘Everybody won a pack of bacon man, they’re excited.’ What a great marketing tool and certainly grateful to those that make that happen at Smithfield.
On Boston College:
Coach [Earl] Grant’s doing everything he can with his team, for his team. They do not quit. They were down twenty against St. Louis, came roaring back with a chance to win that game. The Clemson game’s one of the darndest things I’ve seen. They were just getting pounded and down twenty-three and right back they come. They don’t go away. They don’t shy from a deficit.
I like what they do offensively. They got a big post player there in [James] Karnik. He’s a big 7’1” European who’s a really good passer and a good basketball player. Little bit of zone, mostly man. We had a good practice today. We didn’t do a lot, for obvious reasons. Come back tomorrow and step on the gas a little bit. Have a great day of preparation. Work on some of our stuff a little bit and head up. Look forward to competing at noon on Saturday.
On Boston College head coach Earl Grant:
I’ve known him a long, long time. I remember when he was in high school, recruited him a little bit. He had very good success at the College of Charleston. Glad Earl Grant’s in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He’s a whale of a good man, good basketball coach.
On having three games over the next week:
Brutal. That’s five games in ten days. That is a fourth of your league schedule in a ten-day window. [Not] ideal, but that’s what we have before us and gotta play good basketball.
David N’Guessan
On life in the Netherlands:
It’s actually really nice, really peaceful. I do miss back home, kind of, during the year, but it’s kind of similar as it is over here in Virginia. The seasons are kind of similar. Cool winters, not too extreme. Summer is nice.
What’s the favorite food in the Netherlands?
I would say a typical Dutch food is called Stumble. It’s like mashed potatoes with carrots and sausage. But for me personally, I really like my parents’ cooking and my mom makes great burritos. My dad, he’s African, he also makes some great dishes that I really like.
On the mentality going into the N.C. State game:
It was a tough game, we really wanted to win that one. Our mindset was kind of just to take it game-by-game and win the next game, as we did. It’s never easy to win on the road in the ACC and we just wanted to bring one back home and we did.
On his individual performance and extended minutes:
It felt good. It felt good to get the trust from the coaches and to be able to help my team out to get a win.
On the performance of the bench:
It’s good to help our team any way we can. [For us] to come in and not have a drop off, just stay consistent with our play. I think we did a pretty good job with that yesterday.
His view of Sean Pedulla’s game-sealing free throws on Wednesday:
Oh yeah, that was great. When he went to the line, I was very confident he was going to make those and he did and that was huge.
On the final two minutes:
It was crazy. Actually, I was on the bench and we had the ball up seven, and I told coach we should be able to bring this one home. Then as soon as I said that, everything just went the other way. We turned the ball over like five times in the last three minutes. It was just crazy. But I’m glad we were able to leave with a win.
Is it a helpless feeling sitting on the bench watching the collapse happen?
Yeah, pretty much. Helpless. Frustrating, I would say. You just want to win so bad. I mean there’s not a whole lot you can do at that moment.
On where the coaches want his weight to be:
He wants me to get to 220 [pounds]. He wants to do it in steps but I think the ultimate goal for me is to be around 220.
The 2020-21 NCAA Tournament experience:
Last year – It was still a great experience, just throughout the whole year, but just to play there and make a couple minutes and see how it is was amazing, just from me growing up back home and watching the NCAA Tournament and watching my brother play in it and then just to be there myself and actually be there and play was a great experience.
His favorite venue he’s played in:
There’s been quite a few. Even yesterday was pretty nice. I like Dayton, great atmosphere. At Duke. Maryland. Yeah, I’ve been through some great spots.
On what he likes to do off the court:
[I like to] hang out with my friends, go out, play video games with my brothers and friends from back home. There’s a time difference so I’ve gotta see what works.
On what he’s studying:
I’m in the sociology major right now. I’m doing pretty well, I would say.
The impact his siblings have had on him:
They’re great. They’re the best, honestly. My brother that played at East-Tennessee State and Oklahoma State has been a huge role model ever since I came to the United States. He’s kind of been there for me every step of the way, gave me advice, and told me how to do things. It’s just great to have him.
His favorite thing to cook?
Probably Chicken Alfredo. Something like that. Something with pasta or rice.
On the impact of Alise Svihla as an academic advisor:
She’s the best. She helps us out so much with guiding us through what we need to do and helping us with schedules for our homework. She’s really helpful. It’s nice to have her.
On the upcoming road games:
It’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be a lot of fun at the same time. Like Coach [Young] said, we’re going to take it a game at a time and try and stack up the wins.
Tech Sideline is Presented By: