Mike Young details how Virginia Tech broke down Virginia's offense

In a massively important game late in the season for Virginia Tech, head coach Mike Young watched as the Hokies blew rival Virginia out by a final score of 75-41.

After the game, Young detailed what the Hokies were able to do to break down Virginia’s offense throughout the game. In particular, only allowing 16 points at the half.

“All coaches spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for them,” Mike Young said. “I’m just kidding. Our team was onto it. Great energy. We were as connected defensively as we’ve been. You have to be because they’re so violent with their cuts and their screens.”

Mike Young then brought it back to their previous game against one another, back in January. That was a game that the Hokies lost, giving up 65 points. In doing so, he made sure to praise individual players on Virginia’s roster.

“We did a good job in Charlottesville, not perfect, we did a good job in Charlottesville [Isaac] McKneely. He had eight. We did a good job on Reece [Beekman]. Reece is a really good player. I think he had 16. Maybe it was more than that. [Jordan] Minor and [Blake] Buchanan combined 24 points, maybe 22. The Georgetown transfer, number 1 [Dante Harris], had 10,” Young said.

“Well, we’ve got to win those matchups and we did today and continued to do a good job. [Jake] Groves is playing really well. I saw him yesterday, I think after our game down there, and Groves had six threes against Notre Dame. He’s shooting the fire out of it. [Andrew] Rohde is playing good basketball for them and you know how much we admire Ryan Dunn. So, good night for our team.”

Virginia shot just 32.7 percent in the loss to Virginia Tech, with only two made shots from three-point range. The Cavaliers also only shot seven free throws throughout the game while committing 12 turnovers.

With the win, Virginia Tech moved into a tie for ninth in the ACC standings with a 7-8 conference record. That’s five games out of first place North Carolina with five games remaining.

Mike Young on building off of Virginia win

Coming into the home stretch of the season, Mike Young knows that it’s important for Virginia Tech to build off the Virginia win and he also knows there isn’t a lot of room at this point in the season.

“That’s a good step. That was enjoyable. I’d like to see it repeatedly. Maybe not that outcome but playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played. We did that today,” Young said.

“We’ve kind of walked ourselves into a corner here. We don’t have a lot of wiggle room, we have opportunities. We need to make the most of what we have left. What we have left is a Pittsburgh team that’s playing good basketball. We’ve got to go up there on Saturday.”