On Thursday night, Virginia Tech men’s basketball coach Mike Young joined Zach Mackey and Mike Burnop on Tech Talk Live to discuss the Hokies’ 75-41 drubbing of UVa on Monday and Saturday’s game at Pitt (5:30 p.m. ET, CW).
Mike Young
Big win on Monday over Virginia. Did you see that coming in shootaround?
Gosh no. Not a chance. We go to Chapel Hill, we don’t play very well. Quick turnaround. You play Virginia and you see them so much on film in preparation for most everybody. That’s one of the first games we watch. They do some things differently than we do defensively but we want to do a lot of the same things. So you see them all the time. We do very little Sunday for obvious reasons, nothing physical. We watch quite a bit of film. We went on the floor and we walked through some things. They don’t change and I admire that. This is what they do. And it’s coming right at you. So can you guard it and then can you score enough to win because you know they’re gonna guard you.
Good energy. Nobody with their lips stuck out after Saturday’s game. And then roll on the floor and play a complete game on both ends, limit them to 16 points in the first half. They had one person in double figures, that was Isaac McKneely with 11. To hold Reese Beekman to nine points, to beat them to a lot of different things, loose balls we were on them, defensively we were connected. Great performances by a lot of people, Mylyjael Poteat and Lynn Kidd, I could go on and on, both were terrific. Sean Pedulla was terrific. We did it without Hunter Cattoor and Pedulla scoring a lot of points, those two kids played very well, but they weren’t in the upper teens, low twenties and were well below their average. MJ Collins and Tyler Nickel were on one and good for us.
Does that result on Monday make you think going forward about how you do that and implement some of that where you’re not doing a whole lot leading up to the game?
You do it so many times during the course of your career. It’s really reading your team. I would never do anything physical other than get them revved up a little bit, maybe get as much as shots off. It’s certainly helpful. We were on the road, Virginia was at home on Saturday. They’ve got to come to us on Sunday, play Monday, so you get to this point of the year, by and large, the hay’s in the barn, you know what you’re going to do. You’re tweaking things, but there aren’t any wholesale changes, let’s do what we do and let’s do it better and execute better on both ends of the floor. And if we do that, we’ll be just fine.
Tyler Nickel has had a nice stretch for you. Big game at North Carolina and added 13 points and six assists on Monday. What have you seen out of Nickel as of late?
He’s playing really well and I’ve told you before, what a delightful person he is to coach. He’s about the right stuff. He works really hard. He’s conscientious, it’s important to him. He wants to be a great player. We’ve hit on something here. He’s playing, I don’t know, 10, 12 minutes at the three spot. He’s playing a good chunk of time at the four spot and it gives you a different look. Robbie Beran is a good shooter and is shooting the ball very well, but Tyler is really shooting it well and we can get him behind some stuff with Lynn and Mylyjael rolling to the basket and he’s getting the thing in the hole, he’s defending better, he got nicked up on one the other night, but he’s responsible and he’s in a good place and again, he plays very hard.
It seems like as Tyler Nickel is getting more confidence and on that upward trajectory, another guy, Robbie Beran has been in that same boat. What have you seen from him from Game 1 to where he’s at right now?
I think we’ll see this a lot going forward, with whatever transfers you have, grad transfers, regular transfers, that it takes them a little time. Robbie’s had a good year for us. He’s been really good here over the last, I don’t know, several games, cluster of games. He’s got his shoulders back, he’s playing freely. He’s not thinking as much, he’s a lot more comfortable defensively and boy, does he have a match up on Saturday now with Blake Hinson. Robbie Beran’s putting together a really nice year for us and thrilled that we have him in Blacksburg.
MJ Collins has taken a lot of the pressure off Sean Pedulla bringing the ball down. I think it seems like that’s kind of helped Sean a little bit?
It gets him off the ball some and he’s down the floor and we can get screens to him quicker in that possession. And MJ has done a very good job, he’s got a real understanding. He’s not a point guard, he is an off guard, but he’s a good secondary ball handler. He can get us to our stuff. He’s really defending well. I mean, he is guarding at a very high level consistently. So, yeah, you’re spot on. He’s brought a great deal to the table being able to move it back there. We go double fist, that’s him with the ball in his hands and, we can run anything we need to run and he does a good job with it.
One of the struggles when you went to Charlottesville was the paint points down inside. This time, you go plus-10 on points down in the paint. Was there anything different that you saw or had which was so effective down inside?
Masterful coaching. It was a matter of looking Lynn and Mylyjael in the eye in front of the group and saying we got outplayed on the front line in Game 1, [Jordan] Minor and [Blake] Buchanan combined for 24 points. You guys have to win that match. It can’t be a push, it can’t be, a toss up and it wasn’t. They played really hard. I put them at a disadvantage. We wanted to step up on those pin downs when they screamed down with Minor and Buchanan on McKneely and Beekman and they would curl into the elbow area and we’ve stepped up a step or so and that ball’s going underneath.
We changed up some of those coverages and we’re able to get back. Minor had the exact same play earlier in that game because Lynn’s not extended, he was able to get back between Minor and the basket. Minor took that shot, but Lynn had walled him up and he missed it. I had to help them and those guys did the rest. They were really good and the Georgetown point guard, [Dante] Harris, number one, had 10 points at Virginia in his first game back. That can’t happen. He’s a good player, but, goodness gracious, can’t let Harris nick you up and he did in Charlottesville, did a much better job on him here.
You had to be so happy with the way the defense played. Beekman was three out of 10 and they only shot 33 percent and only made two threes. The defense was outstanding from start to finish.
Defense was outstanding. You don’t see a UVa team flustered very often. They’re pretty cool with how they’re gonna play and how they’re gonna come at you and how they’re gonna win the game. I thought our tenacity and our quickness to the ball really bothered them over the course of that game, only 16 points at the half. I think it was 36-16 at the half. Now you’re concerned about the start of the second half. It’s UVa and they’re immensely talented. We’ve got to have a good start. We jump right out to a 7-0 lead to start the second half and just continue from the first half. Really good basketball on both ends, really connected offensively. We were even more connected defensively and great outing from our people.
What is about Cassell Coliseum? Virginia now has lost four straight in that building. How does the home-court advantage make such a difference?
I don’t think anybody from Charlottesville, connected with the UVa basketball program, is looking for real estate in Blacksburg anytime anytime soon. It’s a great game. It’s a great rivalry. We’ve had our struggles in Charlottesville as well. But, man, the Cassell Guard’s amped up and that place is full, the pep band is there, they’re wonderful. And it’s loud and it’s hot. And the student section is down there next to UVa’s bench. It’s overwhelming. I guess that started during COVID. We were down six, eight, in the second half and took off, we found a couple of things Cattoor was really good at. Keve Aluma was really, really good. It’s a great home-court advantage for all of us, wrestling, women’s basketball. And we’ve also played very well in each of those four meetings at home. Let’s figure out how to go down to Charlottesville in years to come and win down there. You’ve got to win on the road.
You guys were talking a little bit earlier about Robbie Beran. How about his defense? Three blocked shots in the game the other day, his defense has really stepped up.
He played for a great coach at Northwestern. He’s very well schooled on that end of the floor. He’s sharp. Football is no different. As a defender, the more plays you see, and the more actions you’re familiar with, you can get ahead of it, you can anticipate, and he does a great job with that. He’s got a real knack for sitting in a gap. So his man doesn’t have the ball. He’s sitting in the gap. Here comes the ball. And then it’s out of there to his man and is really quick with it. Beran’s a good athlete and is a good communicator. Completely unselfish defensively. Doing really well for us. Again, as I said earlier, he’s got a heck of a matchup on Saturday with Hinson, a kid that’s playing really good basketball for Pitt.
Your defense forced Virginia to 12 turnovers, that’s a season-high in ACC play for Virginia. What was it defensively that you guys did so well?
We put a real emphasis on deflecting, getting a finger on the ball. Hunter is really good at it. They’re all pretty good at it. And we did a great job with that. Just again, tenacity is the key word. We’d really shrunk the floor. Jake Groves can really shoot it, Beekman can make a shot, McKneely is really good. But as a whole, as a team, they didn’t shoot great. So you’re able to condense and constrict your defense a little bit around the lane. Now you’ve got to get out of there when that ball starts moving. But our players did a masterful job in executing what we gave them. You don’t have to worry as much about Virginia in transition as you do so many others, Pittsburgh is one of those where they’re racing to the edge, to the perimeter, and they’ve gotten a number of guys that can shoot it. Virginia doesn’t play that way. But man, they do some things that are really hard to guard.
Walk us through the conversations that you have, maybe before the game with the opposing coach, and the small talk and then after the game sometimes it’s a quick exchange. But Tony Bennett had to be just so furious about how his team played the other day. What’s that like?
I’ve never had a contentious conversation with a coach after the game. Now, it’s competitive and none of us like to get our tails whipped. When it’s over for me, it’s over, win or lose, it’s time to act like a human being and congratulate the other team if you lose, and congratulate the other team on a game well played. Tony was great, he didn’t have a lot to say. That’s all right. There is a lot on the line. Football, all of athletics, such pressure to win and you want to play well, and you want to win ball games. But there’s also an element of sportsmanship, handle yourself with class, get your hind end off the floor if things didn’t go your way. And I never want to apologize for anything and I’ve never put myself in a situation, I’ve been a head coach now for over 700 games as a college coach. So I don’t think that’s going to change.
Speaking off that, how often do you see the other coaches in the ACC off the floor, in recruiting?
Not as much as you think. You’re in Orlando during the summer primarily. And a couple of times in April. It’s AAU tournaments, high school tournaments and you’ll run into everybody, but those conversations have nothing to do with basketball. Those are, ‘How’s your family? How are you doing? You had a great year, I really like your team coming back. There’s two freshman guards.’ Really just small talk. I said something in the office the other day and it’s a true story. There’s not a coach in our league that I don’t have a very good relationship with, some closer than others. Certainly Steve Forbes at Wake Forest. Brad Brownell, I get along very well, Tony [Bennett], I think the world of Tony, think he’s as classic a gentleman as I’ve come across. We have not only great coaches in the Atlantic Coast Conference, we’ve got really good people, and certainly a treat to be a part of it.
How about Jaydon Young? How hard is it for him to sit on the bench as long as he does and then all of a sudden you call on him, e comes in against UVa and he’s 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, it’s like he’s got ice in his veins.
He’s gonna be good. And he’s coming on. I made the comment again today in practice. His biggest jump here over the last two, three weeks is defensively. He’s getting better. It is hard to your point, it’s really hard. I tell them all the time, ‘When I grab you to go in the game, it’s too late to get ready. You’ve got to be prepared mentally, emotionally, and physically. When that moment comes, you’re called upon to do the things necessary to help us win.’ And to his credit, he stayed the course, he’s hung in there, he stayed after practice and got his shots up. He’s worked on his game. He’s got a good body, he’s a good looking, physical young man and he can shoot the ball. To see him have some success on both ends of the floor was quite rewarding.
What’s the week look like preparing for a team in the ACC like Pitt?
When you play on Monday and you’ve got Tuesday, Wednesday, we take Tuesday off. I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I watch our team on Tuesday, I don’t watch the opponent upcoming at all, just to get away from it and decompress a little bit. We went on the road Tuesday, went to Charlotte and saw several really good players, went down with Kevin Giltner, got back Tuesday night late, and we’ve probably watched five of their games. I’ve got one to watch tonight. We’ll see. We typically watch seven or eight. And Virginia, as I said earlier, they’re not going to change. This is what they do, and we guarded it, the same action since we’ve been here. Pittsburgh is a little bit like that. If you’ve seen one Pittsburgh game, you’ve seen them, and that’s taken nothing away from coach Jeff Capel, who’s an outstanding coach. But that’s what they do, spread the floor and run up into a ball screen, sometimes three times in a given possession. And it’s all spaced out with perimeter shooters.
No smoke and mirrors, this is what they do and can you guard it? Can you get to Blake Hinson and get that shot contested and then rebound it? Because with the ball screen action, that screener is rolling out of there and he’s rolling hard to the basket. Your post player is taking care of the ball, stopping the ball. Now he’s coming out and that shot goes out of there from the perimeter. He’s behind Federiko Federiko. How about that name, Federiko Federiko is his actual name, number 33. He’s a really good player. He only averages four points a game, but man, he affects the game with his length and his offensive rebounding. And Guillermo Diaz Graham is a different player for them, seven-foot, but he’s instead of rolling to the basket, he’s gonna pop out of and he can really shoot it. So that causes some concern, but it’s kind of how we handle every game now. Looking ahead to Syracuse, we’ll be in there most all day Sunday in preparation for that, we’ve got to travel on Monday. So some things are much more condensed as you only have two days to prepare, unlike five days or whatever it is for Pittsburgh.
Obviously, Blake Hinson’s a beast, but he can shoot the ball from outside, he’s a really good 3-point shooter. He’s a handful. How do you match up with him?
I don’t want to give any company secrets away here. We guarded him the same way last year, you almost have to switch, he’s running into stuff all the time. And a ghost says when I look like I’m coming up to screen you, you’ve got the ball and just before the contact just before a screen that I get out of it, we ghost it. You got to switch all that stuff. And if you don’t, you’re behind it and he does an incredible job. He gets out quick, really good shooter, 41% from three as a big burly young man, he’s a good player.
What have you told your team about defending the 3-point arc and will that be an emphasis when preparing for Pitt?
Yeah, it will be a huge emphasis. We’ve played other teams that are very long ball dominant. You’ve got to mind your P’s and Q’s, you’ve got to be connected and close out to their body. You can’t close out three feet away from them. They’re going to get in the air and they make that shot you’ve got to make them put it on the floor and they’re capable of doing that. It’s not like they’re dead threes. A dead three to us is somebody that can only catch it and shoot it and you have to make him dribble to his shot, so we’ve got a load in front of us. We’re gonna have to play very well on that end of the floor, limit those threes as best we can. I saw him just now before coming over here against Notre Dame. I think they were 0-7 in the first half from three and they made seven in the first six minutes of the second half. They can turn it on quickly. and the zoo was back in full force in the Petersen Events Center, looks like they’ve drawn really well 10, 12,000. It’ll be a great atmosphere, gonna have to go up there and play well.
And you’ve got to rebound like you talk all the time in every game. They’re 15-2 when they win the rebounding battle and they’ve got four or five guys that average over five rebounds a game. That’s pretty impressive.
They are a good rebounding team. Some of that, I think, has to do with the fact that they do shoot a lot of perimeter shots and when those miss, typically that carom is coming off long. They do a nice job of tracking that thing down. Our guards are going to have to rebound, we’re gonna have to be really physical with it and keep Guillermo and Federiko Federiko off the offensive glass. Both those guys do a nice job of batting a miss back onto the perimeter and the ball typically finds Hinson and he makes one or two of those a game.
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Good luck Hokies, lets get this next one!