Virginia Tech men’s basketball center Christian Gurdak and head coach Mike Young joined Zach Mackey and Mike Burnop on Thursday’s edition of Tech Talk Live.
They discussed the Hokies’ loss to Stanford on Wednesday and previewed Saturday’s 4 p.m. ET clash with Cal.
Christian Gurdak
How are things for you?
I feel good. Definitely a big uptick in minutes recently, but body feels good, spirits high and like you said, trying to rebound from these last two losses, which were very winnable games, but I have good faith that we’ll do that.
Let’s go back in time. You were born in Stuttgart, Germany, right?
I was.
How long did you live there?
About a month or two, so I’m not German at all. I was raised in the United States and moved around. I grew up here.
You played a couple of years with Ben Hammond. Tell us about those two years.
It was great. Ben was a good friend of mine in high school when we really got along, had really good chemistry together, and that was one of the big reasons I also came here was looking forward to playing with him again and trusting him, what he told me about the team. We have good chemistry on the floor this year I think, and I’m really happy we’re together again.
Y’all must’ve had a heck of a team.
We were very good in high school. We were top 10 in the country every year.
You played at Paul VI. Obviously, you two are Division I talents, but that entire starting roster is somewhere in the country at a high level, right?
Yeah, there were two guys that are at Duke now, one guy that was at Maryland and Georgetown, Ben and I are at Tech, one’s at Notre Dame, and there were a lot of high-major guys coming off the bench, so that was a really talented team we had. It was fun to be a part of it.
Talk about Team Takeover. You played five years with them. What was that experience like? You guys had great success.
It’s probably the best AAU team in the country, from grassroots to 17U aspect, and it’s great. It really molded by toughness and my work ethic and just teaching me how to play basketball the right way, and I think it gives you what a lot of other AAU programs don’t give you with the coaching. The DMV and Washington, D.C., is such a great place for basketball and it really helps develop you as a young player.
So some of those guys from that team are probably playing elsewhere too, correct?
Yeah, there’s a lot of NBA guys from Team Takeover. Kevin Durant came, not from Team Takeover but from the earlier version of it when he was coming up, and there’s a lot of guys, high major, NBA, overseas, so they really produce a lot of talent.
When did you first start playing basketball?
I first started playing in sixth grade. I didn’t really start taking it seriously until seventh grade, though. I was a swimmer before then, believe it or not, but I was really tall, big kid in my class and my mom played — not in college, just in high school. It just kind of grew from there.
How big were you then, and did you have a growth spurt later on?
No, I never really had a growth spurt. I was always the tallest in my class. I was the tallest kid in my elementary school, including teachers, when I was in the fourth grade. In the sixth grade, I was probably about 12 years old, I was probably 6-2, 6-3, so I was pretty tall back then and I just kept growing steadily.
Outside of swimming, did you ever play any other sports?
I played rugby for a year. My dad wouldn’t let me play football because he played and got a lot of injuries and he didn’t want me to do that, so we decided rugby was safer, but I played for about a year. It was OK, but I really fell in love with basketball.
He thought rugby was safer than football?
That’s what he said, and I never got hurt, but quickly changed over to basketball.
What’s been one of the biggest changes from the high school game to the college game?
Definitely the level of physicality. In high school, of course there are physical players and physical teams, but night in and night out, it wasn’t everybody. Here you could go against a high major, mid major, low major, everyone’s physical, everyone’s good, everyone knows how to play the game. Another thing is game planning. In high school, you would have a game plan, you would watch film, but teams at this level, no matter who you are, have a game plan and they’re very good players and they execute it and they really know your tendencies, so kind of getting around that and figuring out how to play through it has probably been the biggest change.
What’s it been like for you coming in as a freshman playing against a guy like Antonio Dorn and Tobi Lawal and Amani Hansberry?
It was definitely tough, but I trusted my God-given gifts, my physicality, because I can’t jump as high as Tobi, handle the ball or shoot like Amani, but I’m strong and I can bang against them, so just trusting that. And then a lot of the work I put in in high school. I played against some pretty good players, so just knowing that you don’t need athleticism. It’s great, trust me, I wish I had some more, but you don’t always need it. You can figure out other ways to score and be effective.
Did you have any idea you’d play as much as you’re playing now at this point in the season?
I had no idea. My thought process coming in was just work as hard as I can for the opportunities I get and then stay ready. You can’t control what situations you’re put into, and so for me, just visualizing everything that could happen and just be ready for any situation I could be put into.
I know you’ve been in the weight room a lot with David Jackson. How much do you feel like your physicality and your size have changed since getting here?
Definitely a lot. In high school, I remember not lifting as much as I do now, obviously, and I’d be bruised up after the games, but it wouldn’t be too bad. Now, after playing UVa or even the other night, you can barely walk going to bed, so it’s very important to stay in that weight room so your muscles can kind of regroup and refocus for the next practice or game, and it’s been a huge aspect.
If you take one second off from playing defense, being right on that guy, leaning on him a little bit, they’re going to get around you and make you look funny. It’s so encompassing at all times out there.
Yeah, that’s another big change. These guys are very, very good at what they do, and I like to think that I am too, but if you mess up for one second, they’re going to make you look like you don’t know what you’re doing. Just always being mentally locked in, even when the ball’s away from you, knowing your guy is going to be moving and doing something. Always being low and having your body on him is very important.
You played a lot against Bryant earlier in the season due to foul trouble. How did you feel after that game?
It was tough. That was my first major minute game and stepped into the opportunity, tried to help the team win and I was definitely tired the next day. Sore, but then against UVa I think I played 40-something, so I was exhausted after that game. But just staying in the weight room and then also getting conditioning in after practice and before practice and everything. It’s important because college floors are very long. No one realizes they’re longer than high school floors, so it’s important you stay in good shape and good cardio throughout the season.
What’s it like being coached by Mike Young? He’s got all of those little isms.
It’s great. I’ve known him for a really long time, he offered me when I was a freshman in high school, before I even played a game, so I’ve built that relationship with him. Seeing him coach from afar is a lot different from being coached by him in person, and he’s a great guy, he’s a great coach, he’s a really smart basketball mind. It’s awesome to play for him.
You hadn’t even played a high school basketball game and Coach Young offered you a scholarship to Virginia Tech. At that point, you had to have felt like, ‘OK, I’m on the right path.’
Oh, yeah. I remember that day. I called my parents, I was pretty happy because I was talking to some friends and they were like, ‘I might get some offers,’ and I was like, ‘That’s cool,’ and fast forward a few hours and Coach Young, I’m shaking his hand and he’s offering me, so that was a pretty cool day. I’m happy that happened because I wouldn’t be here without it.
How big were you then?
I was probably like 6-8. I only grew about an inch or two since, so not too much growth the last four years.
You got recruited by some other ACC teams, but you had that relationship with Coach Young and Ben Hammond.
Yeah, there were some teams that came in later in my high school career, and no disrespect to them, they’re great teams, they’re good coaches and everything, but the relationship I built with Coach Young, and I’m from West Virginia but I grew up in Virginia. It definitely swayed me towards him, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice.
What did you think about campus when you visited?
It was pretty cool. I had never really been on a college campus before. Growing up, my parents never took me to their alma maters. I mean, my dad graduated from the Naval Academy, so we would go there every once in a while, but that’s Annapolis, it’s kind of tucked into the city. But I never really went to a true college campus, and so it was a little bit different than what I expected, but I really liked it and they did a great job of showing me around and showing me all of the good things. I love it now. It feels like home.Did your father play at Navy?
He did. He played football for a few years.What position?
He was an offensive lineman.So he’s a big dude?
Big guy, yeah.Is your mother tall too?
She’s about 6-1, so she’s pretty tall.How about your brother? You have one brother, Xavier.
I have a younger brother, yes. He’s about 6-5 and he’s a freshman. Basketball player.There’s been a lot thrown at you in the last six months. How have you been able to handle it?
I was mentally prepared. You just never know what’s going to happen, you have to stay ready, like I said. I like to think that the moment’s never too big for me. We’ve had some big games this year, some closer games that I think we’ve won, especially UVa, and we had Elon. We came through and closed it out. Just never letting the moment be too big from lifting, going to practice day in and day out, going to class and just not letting it be too much of a culture shock.You had 17 points against Elon, 17 against UVa and 19 rebounds. That was a heck of an effort, and 46 minutes. That had to be exhausting.
We came out and hit them early in the face. We jumped out to a pretty big lead in the first half and kind of wore them down, but credit to our guys, we all played a role in that win. Ben had an amazing game, but there wasn’t really one guy that stood out and just carried us. We all played a big role, and they played a good game too, and they wouldn’t go away, but that was a great team win for us, and we’re looking to kind of get back on track and copy that and bring that into the next games we have coming up.What were your thoughts from a tough game against Stanford?
Definitely a tough loss. I think we should be 3-0 in ACC play, we’ve lost a few close ones, and credit to them, they didn’t give up, they hit some tough shots down the stretch, took advantage of some of our defensive lapses, but it’s not going to define us. Obviously, we’re a good basketball team. We’re 12-4, that’s not bad. We beat a ranked team. We got Cal coming up, SMU, another ranked team, coming up. We’re not going to let this loss define us. It’s not like we’re getting blown out. We’ve been there, we should’ve won the other night, we should’ve beaten Wake Forest, so we still have a winner’s mentality and we’re going to go into these next few games really looking to get it back.You guys had to fight your tails off just to keep that Wake Forest game close in the first half because of foul trouble. How frustrating was that?
That one hurt a lot. It was hard. Amani and I got in foul trouble in the first half, it was hard watching that from the bench, but some of the other guys did a great job of keeping it close and keeping us in the game. I thought they did a phenomenal job, but unfortunately, they also made some tough shots down the stretch, so just didn’t really go our way. But we looked forward to this game the other day and now we’re looking forward to the next game, just have to have a forget and move on mentality.Have you struggled with foul trouble before or is that something new for you?
Playing the post position, guards are driving down, shooting, you’re trying to fight for position, rebound, stuff’s going to happen. It’s hard to play a zero foul game, but every once in a while refs will call little tick-tack fouls more than others, so you’ve got to kind of see how the game’s being called — that’s something I’m learning right now — and adjust to it. You can’t be physical if they’re not calling it like a physical game. Just adjusting and kind of keeping that under control.How do you do that as a player?
I’ve been trying to be more mindful. It’s tough sometimes because you want to come out and just play physical, play your game, but it’s not going to be reffed the same every single game, and that’s just kind of adjusting to who’s calling it. For me, what I try to do is be physical the first five minutes and then see what they’re going to do, and then if they’re calling a touchy game, you’ve just got to wall up and not give up anything that they can call you on.Tell us about the dunk late in the UVa game that tied it up at 68.
Yeah, they always give me a hard time for not being too athletic, but I thought I got up on that one a little bit. Great pass from Ben, it was a well-drawn play and we needed that bucket. It was definitely good to get that one home.What’s your favorite thing to do in a game? Is it a dunk like that? A big block?
I like and-ones. And-ones are nice because you get the bucket and then you get to relax for a few seconds because you’re working hard to get it. I like offensive rebounds, those are good, gives us another possession. Those two things are probably my favorite.What do you like to do for fun?
Well, right now, I like to sleep, and then I like to play a lot of video games with my brother and some of my friends. It’s good to just kind of relax, just tune out for a little bit. During the summer, I was playing a lot of golf. Getting better, just started it, but looking forward to getting back to it after the season is done.Are you a cook?
Unfortunately not. I can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich but that’s it. My mom and dad are pretty good, but I did not get that skill from them. But I’m willing to learn.What’s this stretch like where there’s no class, just basketball?
It’s nice. It’s nice to be able to just focus on basketball and how we can win games and how I can help the team. But it will be nice to kind of get back into a routine of going to class and learning, it always expands the brain, and just kind of seeing the other students around.How did you like the experience up at the Mohegan Sun, and then the Bahamas?
It was pretty cool. In Connecticut, that was a pretty big arena, some big names have played there. I saw they had like Billy Joel in the rafters. Big names, so that was cool to play there, I’m very happy we got the win. The Bahamas was a great trip. Tough outcome in some of those games, but it was a great trip, learned a lot and great weather down there.Is there a place you’re looking forward to playing in the ACC?
Yes, I’m looking forward to playing at Louisville. Big arena, they’re a good team, got a lot of family down there, so it’ll be cool to play them. And then probably UNC. I’ve got an ex-teammate that plays at UNC so it’ll be good to play against him and experience that environment.Are there any professional centers you look to model your game after?
Of course. Nikola Jokic is probably the best guy in the league right now, he’s amazing. A guy that I know, Luka Garza, he played at Iowa. His dad and I are very close and Luka is a great mentor and friend, and he’s playing pretty well in Boston right now. I try to model my game after guys like that, Alperen Sengun. Just guys who use more of their brain, are crafty, just really skilled. All fundamental players.What are your early thoughts on Cal? Virginia got them pretty good.
Yeah, but you can’t overlook them. They’re a good basketball. Watching them on film, they do a lot of good things, but I think we’re going to try to steal one back. But they’re a good team, look forward to playing them on Saturday, but I think we’re going to get one here.
Mike Young
Tell us about Christian Gurdak. Such a great young man. He told the story about you offering him in the ninth grade.
Saw him coming out of the bowels of Paul VI and it’s this mountain of a young man. Visited with him briefly, watched him practice and just struck by his attention to detail and willingness to do all of the little things. It was the first and only ninth grader I’ve ever offered. Followed his progress, had some contact with him within NCAA rules, but continued to grow on me, had a really good summer part of his senior year for Team Takeover and then had a really good year with Gonzaga, where he had transferred to up there in the District.When I think of everything this thing has been through to date with Dorn down, Tobi’s injury, Tyler Johnson’s injury, we were awfully thin and I was really worried about it. What that young man has done for our team, what he’s meant to this team. I mean, he has asserted himself into a very prominent role. Now, Tobi was on a minute restriction last night. He has no restrictions on Saturday, but Christian Gurdak is going to continue to play a vital and critical role for our team.
It has helped us moving Amani to the four. It’s a better matchup for him, it’s a better person guarding him, not as big. We rebound better with Amani at the four. Don’t get me wrong, Tobi Lawal is going to have a prominent role, and Tobi is very, very good, but good to see Tobi back on the floor last night and snare a couple of those rebounds, and I thought the kid, for having been out as long as he’s been out, played very well for us.
How early do you get on kids now in the recruitment process?
It doesn’t really matter anymore. It’s what can you do in terms of NIL and rev share. You can recruit a person for six minutes. If the number’s right, signed, sealed, delivered, you got it. It’s really changed.
How about the game Christian played against UVa?
Unbelievable. I mean, utterly unconscionable the night that he had, and he didn’t do anything special, other than grab every rebound against a really good front line. I thought, and take nothing away from Christian, kid’s been awesome and he’s saved our bacon here in this period with people down, he had a really good game against Elon, really good game. And I’m thinking during the holiday, we’ve got the break, they’ve got [Johann] Grünloh, they’ve got [Thijs] De Ridder, they’ve got [Ugonna Onyenso]. Excellent shot-blockers and big people, and I thought, ‘This will tell us a lot. Can he get that offensive rebound and get that thing back up on the glass?’ Well, not only did he do that, he did it very, very well.
Nineteen rebounds in a game like that, he’s a heck of a player and I’m telling you, he’s as good a kid as you could possibly imagine. What you see is what you get. He’s a worker. I literally had to text him last night, ‘Do not lift tomorrow.’ He’s in there all the time, he’s working on his game, he’s working on his body, takes impeccable care of his body. He’ll be in the cold tub tomorrow morning when I get in, eight o’clock. He’s right there in the cold tub taking care of himself, and just a delightful person.
It felt like there were so many game-deciding plays in that UVa game. It never felt like those guys were scared or nervous for the big moment.
I think you see it in a lot of places because of the games these kids are playing. They play all the time. Now, that’s different than being in Cassell Coliseum with a sold-out crowd and the Cavaliers, but they’re playing against really good players in really big games with the AAU circuit, with the WCAC, where Ben Hammond came from and where Christian Gurdak came from. Those are big crowds. They’re high-school level. Those are big places. They don’t flinch. Ben Hammond was superb. I thought Ben was really good again last night, so a pleasure to watch them compete.
UVa got the tip-in at the end of the second overtime. That had to be so deflating, but they fought back in the third overtime.
We were exhausted. I knew that UVa was exhausted, but they came over, and you can tell a lot by watching a young person’s body language. Good, bad, up, down, little adversity, and we had a far away look in our eye, and I was really worried about it, and I begged them. ‘We’ve got more ball to play, we’ve got another opportunity, we’ve got five more minutes,’ and lo and behold, here they come out of the gate. I think UVa scored first, but right back we come, big play after big play after big play, and to win that one was, needless to say, a real feather in our cap.
It was a tough one last night. You led for the majority of the game but Stanford came back and won at the end. What was your message to the team in the locker room?
It’s disappointing. I’m not going to peel the paint off the walls, not how I go about it. Nobody made mistakes intentionally. We mishandled some things. Save the ball to a teammate, you don’t want to throw it just wildly behind your head, something bad’s going to happen. You turn, use your athleticism and find a teammate and save that possession. That possession is enormous. Made three. We had a bad shot, we had a bad turnover, we missed a couple of foul shots. We’re up 10 with 2:02 to play in the game, you can’t kick that game. We spent a great deal of time on it today, they understand, they’re smart basketball players. We all, all of us, have to do a better job, and we will.
Time and score are so important in those moments.
Yes, time and score are everything. Managing all of that is a big deal, and that goes back to all of us. It’s not Neo Avdalas, it’s not Ben Hammond, Amani Hansberry, it’s all of us. Just everything that had to go right for them went right, and everything that had to go wrong for us went wrong. We’ll be in a number of those. Fellas, I look at this league and I see the Miami-Wake Forest game last night, I see SMU and Clemson last night. Buckle up, they’re all going to be right down to the wire and we’ll have to handle our business better than we did a night ago.
When Justin Fuente was here, he said every game was like a three-hour stomach ache. Is that what it’s like for you?
It is. It’s like a 24-hour stomach ache. My stomach will start hurting Friday night, tomorrow night, and into the four o’clock tip with the Bears on Saturday. Winning is hard and there’s a lot that goes into it, and the person that thinks you’re up comfortably and you’ve got it in the bag, there’s a lot of things that can happen. You’ve got to play it out to the final horn, especially in today’s game with so many talented people on the floor.
What’s your take on the state of the ACC?
I tell you what, I’m impressed. I have seen everyone now, watched some of the Duke-Louisville game Tuesday night. There’s a lot of balance, a lot of teams that are fighting. Wake was up five with five to play last night, Miami comes back on a 10-0 run and wins. Clemson’s good again, SMU’s good. I watched SMU put it on North Carolina pretty good last week in Dallas, I think they beat them by 14. Great balance. I think UVa’s got a really good basketball team. I’m telling you, every night is going to be a knockdown, drag-out affair, and you better be playing your best basketball. I thought we did some really good things last night, but it’s a 40-minute deal, we all know that.
Going back to the Wake Forest game, you guys dealt with some foul trouble, it took some time to get the offense going, but how proud were you of the guys to get that thing within four at the half?
Yeah. I will play a person with two fouls in the first half. Let’s just say you pick up your second foul with 12 to play. If you don’t go back with that person — and I’ve got a lot of close friends that I admire greatly that will not play a player with two fouls, get him to the half — it’s really hard to come back and start a second half and find your rhythm again and get back into the flow of the game. So Hansberry had two fouls, back in for a minute, minute and a half. Gurdak had two fouls, and I’m managing a lot, and I had no choice. We’re down eight, I’ve got three fouls on Amani and Christian, and I’ve got Sin’Cere Jones playing the five, Neo playing the four. And to their credit, they competed, made a couple of really good basketball plays, and to get that thing to four going into the break was significant.
Jailen Bedford scored 25 points in that game. What has helped him get back on track?
Just staying at it, nothing special. Just a persistent effort, and he’s had some great moments for us. Was really, really good in Uncasville against Providence, he was really good in the Bahamas against Colorado State. He’s a good basketball player, he’s played a lot of ball, seen a lot of plays. I thought our team did a great job on [Ebuka] Okorie last night in the first half holding him to five, and then he got a couple down off a couple of missed assignments defensively and you can’t do that with a really good player. Those eyes light up and things start dropping left and right, that’s what happened to us.
There have been a few times this year where you guys have had momentum and then a clock issue or the officials looking at something has stopped everything.
At Wake Forest, and we had it at our place last night and against UVa. Nobody’s doing anything wrong, it’s just a clock malfunction. The one on Saturday at Wake Forest, the officials have a pack on their belt, and when they blow the whistle, the clock stops, and I don’t know if it’s that sensitive. Maybe if the guy’s a little out of shape and he’s breathing heavy and he’s running up and down the floor and the clock stops, well, you’ve got to stop the game and you’ve got to go back and look at it and see where the clock stops and how much time. It’s annoying and it’s disruptive.
We’re not seeing the number of reviews that we saw in previous years, but those, especially in the last two minutes, are disruptive. The flow of the game is disruptive. Now, you want them to get it right, and they want to get it right, and that’s their job. They’ve got fewer plays they can review now.
What do you see in this Cal team?
They have a good team. Dai Dai Ames, transfer from UVa, who had a good year for them last year, is playing well. Chris Bell from Syracuse, who had a good game against us up there two years ago and hit a couple corner threes. The [Lee] Dort kid is back. [Justin] Pippen, who is Scottie Pippen’s son, from Vanderbilt is playing well for them. Lot like UVa. Different than UVa, but you can’t allow them to make threes. You have to guard the arc.
UVa limited them to only three made threes last night and that was the story of the game. We’ve done a much better job in that regard. Big deal against UVa and guarded the arc exceptionally well in that game. Those threes kill. Twos hurt, threes kill, so we’ll have to guard the arc again on Saturday.