Virginia Tech men’s basketball coach Mike Young and guard Jaden Schutt joined Zach Mackey and Mike Burnop on Tech Talk Live on Thursday.
They recapped the Hokies’ (9-12, 4-6 ACC) win over Florida State on Wednesday in Tallahassee, Fla., and looked ahead to Saturday’s Commonwealth Clash at Virginia.
Mike Young
Tallahassee was nice, loved that weather. How about you, Coach?
I can live with that. Took a little walk yesterday and broke a sweat. You’re not breaking a sweat walking outside in Blacksburg, that’s for sure.
Touch a little on that 76-66 victory in Tallahassee.
We played really hard. Good play from a number of people. I thought we defended quite well. Jamir Watkins and Malique Ewin are huge players for their team and to hold those guys to 11 total points was great fun to witness. We outrebounded Florida State. Not sure how many teams in the last five years have gone into that facility and had 10 or fewer turnovers, I was pleased with that. Jaden Schutt had a good ball game. Tobi [Lawal] is getting better and better here. Tyler Johnson did a nice job on Watkins, the whole team did. We were connected, we were engaged and it was a pleasure to watch this Virginia Tech team when we’re playing that way.
Win No. 400 for you, that’s big time.
Been around a long time. I’ve had more fun than any one man deserves and I’ve had the opportunity to coach a lot of great ones. I think back of all the assistant coaches we’ve had through my 23 years as a head coach, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Some milestones this year. Win No. 100 at Virginia Tech and win No. 400 of your career. As you sit here at Virginia Tech, does it ever come across your mind the career you’ve had?
How lucky I am, yeah. This is where I wanted to be. As I’ve said before, this is my dream job. I can remember it like it was yesterday, my dad took me to my first college basketball game. I thought I was in the mecca of college basketball watching the Hokies play St. Bonaventure or Richmond. That intoxicating environment, the great crowd, the popcorn, it consumed me and swept me off my feet. Many years later, to have the opportunity to coach here, has truly been a dream come true. I don’t take that for granted; I cherish it every time I walk onto that floor. It is a big, big deal for me. I’m certainly grateful.
So much has changed as of late in college basketball. In your first year, you had what, one assistant coach?
One paid assistant coach. Sometimes I look around at the travel party for away games and wonder, “What the heck do all these people do? I’m the head coach, I don’t know why some of these guys are here.” At Emory & Henry, we might have traveled 17 people. Head coach and your team. You might have an athletic trainer. If not, then you’ve got to have the host athletic trainer tape a couple of ankles and get some bags of ice ready for you. I’m grateful for the great staff we have in place here. The work that some of these people do, there is a lot that goes into it. Serving and caring for our players is job one. I’m proud of the staff that we have.
That Florida State team was averaging about 80 points per game in ACC play. You held the Seminoles to just 15 first-half points. Did you get the sense that the defense was rolling?
We were onto their actions, we were quick to the ball and we played with a presence. This team hasn’t always done that. I beg them to get off their heels and fight, swing, throw the first punch. They did last night against a good Florida State team. Wakins is a first-team all-league player and we limited him under 10 points. Now let’s build on it. We prove on occasion that we can do that. Let’s go to Virginia on Saturday and bring the same level of toughness and connectivity to win another one.
You knew they would change things up at half to try and come at you with a run, and they scored 51. You still held on and took care of business.
Yeah, about the time I get excited around here, I know there’s a baseball bat coming at my kneecaps. They’re too good a program and [Leonard Hamilton is] too good a coach to just roll up and walk away. They’re going to come at you. Their pressure was amped up in the second half. We wanted to shrink the floor on the defensive end and make those driving lanes hard. Those big, strong people just started putting their head down and driving through things. We fouled a bit too much. Some unfortunate things as well, Tobi diving for that loose ball, coming up with it, and in his haste to find a teammate, threw it away. They got a couple of shots down after not making a three in the first half.
To see them hold on and continue to fight and believe, it was good to see. They had a good look about them, there was never a look of, “We’ve got a problem.” It was next play, next action. We’re 20-something games into it, Tyler Johnson and Ben Hammond have played a lot of basketball. Jaydon Young, who didn’t play a lot last year, has played quite a bit of basketball this year, as has [Brandon] Rechsteiner. We’re not the new kids on the block; time to grow up and play like people that have been on the floor for extended minutes and are ready to compete and win a number of games down the stretch.
What allowed you to keep the turnovers down against a team like FSU that forces so many?
It was big. We talk about it in the leadup to any Florida State game, saying, “You may get fouled nine times in a single possession and not get called” because they foul so often. I don’t think the officials feel like they can call everything, and last night was no exception. Our sureness and physicality with the ball was exemplary and it was a pleasure to get to watch.
They lead the league in steals. You guys outplayed them in that area. That was nice.
It was great. Led to some easy baskets for us. I thought we shot the ball very well and took good shots, assisted shots. Five turnovers in each half, 13 assists. All in all, a pretty good ball game. I had a good team watching and coaching our team last night.
How about your team outrebounding the second-tallest team in the country?
They’re ferocious on the offensive glass. For whatever reason, they switch so much stuff that gets a lot of their centers and forwards up at the top of the court guarding our guards. They’ve got guards who are not as accustomed to rebounding. We thought we’d be able to hurt them on the offensive glass and we did that. As much as Tobi is coming along here, his offensive rebounding, energy plays, second and third efforts on the offensive glass have been incredible to witness. He had a couple last night. He’s an incredibly athletic, gifted player who’s playing good basketball for us.
You said that you had a long conversation with Leonard Hamilton the other day. You could sense in his Monday teleconference call that things were changing. He didn’t have his usual veteran team. They used to be hacking and whacking at you all game. Last night, it didn’t seem like those guys were quite as engaged. Do you sense the frustration for Hamilton and do you think he will continue with coaching?
I hope he does. It’s not my place to ask him questions like that. The guy looks like he’s 55. He has great energy and he’s a delightful man and a great basketball coach. I talk often with a bunch of head coaches, talked to three other league head coaches yesterday. We’re not belly-aching about the ales of college athletics, that’s not the conversation. I think Coach Hamilton’s in a great place. We all understand that this is a different world and that we must continue to adapt. We have issues that need to be addressed quickly for the betterment of the game and players. It was great to see him.You got Connor Serven into the game early on. What went into that decision?
He moves better. He’s a tough kid. He had a couple of great box-outs and some heads-up defensive plays. He wasn’t deflecting it and he wasn’t rebounding it, but he was in good places and he just moves so much better than Mylyjael [Poteat] and Patrick [Wessler] at times. They were going to play without Ewin at times, which let us play Tobi and Ben Burnam together. I like that lineup more and more as we’re going along. Two better ball-handlers and movers.Talk about Jaden Schutt.
He was very good last night. He’s had a good year for us and he’s continuing to get better. When you consider that he went without playing for two years, there’s some rust on the hinge. It takes some time to work all of that off when you’re not directly involved and you’re a part of the scout team riding the bench knowing you’re not going to play. He came here with the opportunity to help us win games and he’s made the most of it. There are a lot of things that are gross about college athletics. I’ve gotten three calls from agents this afternoon that are talking to me about players that are going to go into the portal; it’s late January.We’re trying to win games with our team, as is every team across the country. We did hear shortly after Duke concluded their season that Jaden was considering entering the portal. I really liked him coming out of high school and couldn’t get him. We recruited another young man that he played with, that was a great team that won the Under Armour national championship. We knew a lot about him, his AAU coach is a dear friend, we had some ins. I drove down there, it was a hot spring day in Durham, got him up here and made him a Hokie.
How will it be taking on Virginia with no Tony Bennett on the other side?
I’ll miss seeing my friend. Ron Sanchez is a friend. I can’t tell you how special those opportunities have been. Been down there four times, this will be the fifth. If you recall, we didn’t play in John Paul Jones during the COVID year. I love the game and the competition. Our team will understand what’s at stake when we get there and how much our Hokie fan base puts into that game with UVA. We got a good look at it today, a lot more tomorrow night and then shoot around on Saturday in preparation for that ball going in the air at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Is there a big difference in the way that Tony Bennett and Ron Sanchez have their teams?
Not really. He’s doing exactly what they have done for a long, long time. It’s worked, they hung a championship banner a few years ago. They played an awfully good ball game against Miami. Watched that and their recent Notre Dame game that they lost. Notre Dame played well. That’s something I love about the matchup and competition, you know exactly what you’re going to see. Good players that are well-schooled. No smoke and mirrors. All man-to-man, no zone, no press. I admire them greatly.
What is it going to take to slow down UVa guard Isaac McKneely?
He’s been a good player in this league for a long time. I thought he was a senior, he’s only a junior. Feels like he’s been around for a while. Great admiration for Isaac. He has a great feel for the game, he sees the game, he’s a great cutter. He’s become a big, strong person, he was really good against Miami last night. He’s a good basketball player. We’re still toying with ideas on matchups. That’s the critical matchup. Isaac is their leading scorer. I think he made six threes last night. If he makes that many, they’re going to be tough to beat. Going to have to do a good job on [Elijah] Saunders, too. A lot of work to do between now and then.
