Virginia Tech Head Coach Quotes
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Virginia Tech
January 7, 2020
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Virginia Tech Head Coach Mike Young
What turned things around when you were down nine with 12 minutes to go?
“We were so bad offensively – 27 first-half points. Could you tell I’ve never played against Coach (Boeheim) before? I knew that (Jalen) Cone, if we were going to win, was going to have to get a couple of shots down. I don’t know that I expected him to get five of them down from long range, but that’s what he does. He is a dynamic scorer. That was his rep coming out of high school where he was a really, really good player.
“Significant win for the Hokies. We are tickled to get out of here with a great one.”
Do you think you played better defense in the second half?
“Yes, we did. They shot 52 percent in the first half and 37 percent (in the second half). I thought we just fought. Syracuse’s numbers – I know they are disappointed: six assists, nine turnovers – I just thought we fought like crazy to contest (Elijah) Hughes. And their numbers reflect that. They made four first-half three’s and all four three’s that they made were under duress. We guarded the heck out of them. Maybe it was a greater attention to detail.”
You held Syracuse to a season-low number of 3-point attempts. What was the key to that?
“It doesn’t take you long to figure out the big three (Elijah Hughes, Buddy Boeheim, Joseph Girard III) have to ring the bell for them. My team fought through a number of screens and we were fortunate to contest most everything the Orange threw at us.”
Syracuse vs. Virginia Tech
January 7, 2020
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Virginia Tech Head Coach Mike Young
What turned things around when you were down nine with 12 minutes to go?
“We were so bad offensively – 27 first-half points. Could you tell I’ve never played against Coach (Boeheim) before? I knew that (Jalen) Cone, if we were going to win, was going to have to get a couple of shots down. I don’t know that I expected him to get five of them down from long range, but that’s what he does. He is a dynamic scorer. That was his rep coming out of high school where he was a really, really good player.
“Significant win for the Hokies. We are tickled to get out of here with a great one.”
Do you think you played better defense in the second half?
“Yes, we did. They shot 52 percent in the first half and 37 percent (in the second half). I thought we just fought. Syracuse’s numbers – I know they are disappointed: six assists, nine turnovers – I just thought we fought like crazy to contest (Elijah) Hughes. And their numbers reflect that. They made four first-half three’s and all four three’s that they made were under duress. We guarded the heck out of them. Maybe it was a greater attention to detail.”
You held Syracuse to a season-low number of 3-point attempts. What was the key to that?
“It doesn’t take you long to figure out the big three (Elijah Hughes, Buddy Boeheim, Joseph Girard III) have to ring the bell for them. My team fought through a number of screens and we were fortunate to contest most everything the Orange threw at us.”
