The media tete-a-tete with Virginia Tech coach Mike Young after last night’s OT loss to Wake Forest in the first round of the 2026 ACC Tournament was more a eulogy than postgame presser.
The reporters didn’t even couch their questions with, hey, if you guys don’t make the NCAA Tournament.
No pretending from the media, and no corrections coming from the coach.
The first question from the scribes on the topic asked Young if he would pin the blame for how the season played out on “too many injuries, or too many close losses, or both?”
Go ahead and cut through the bone while you’re cutting.
“Doing it a long time, 24 years as a head coach, you have never heard me make an excuse. Was it hurtful? Yeah. But tonight, down Amani (Hansberry), and you’ve got to find a way to continue to win, and we didn’t do enough of that. We didn’t do enough of that. Not quite good enough,” Young said, sounding resigned, and you wouldn’t blame him.
ICYMI
Tech (19-13) had to make a go last night without Hansberry, the team’s leading scorer (14.3 ppg, 49.2% FG, 35.4% 3FG), who was nursing a leg injury sustained in the second half of the regular season-ending loss at Virginia on Saturday.
“Held out hope that we could get Amani well. He was feeling a lot better yesterday. When we got to Charlotte, we didn’t do a lot with him in practice. Was encouraged, felt, I was encouraged today. But once we got over here and tried to rev him up at the hotel on our way over, it was apparent that he wasn’t going to be able to do it, so we had to sit him,” Young said.
So, you lose this one in OT, without your leading scorer; you lose on Jan. 3 to Wake Forest on a last-second three; lose to Stanford on Jan. 7 on a last-second three; lose at SMU on Jan. 14 on a halfcourt shot at the buzzer; lose at Miami on Feb. 17 on a floater that missed at the buzzer.
Split those four, and Tech is in the NCAA Tournament.
Young melted down after the loss at Virginia over the weekend, asking rhetorically, in that postgame eulogy, “What the f—k am I doing wrong,” as he noted all the issues faced by his team this year, with injuries to key players, and just bad luck.
Tech started 6-0, then took a body blow with the loss of Tobi Lawal (12.3 ppg, 8.5 rebounds/g, 54.2% FG, 25.0% 3FG), who missed nine game with a stress fracture in his foot.
The Hokies lost their first two games with Lawal on the sidelines, but rallied to go on another six-game winning streak, capped by a three-OT win over Virginia that got their record to 12-2.
Tyler Johnson (8.0 ppg, 4.5 rebounds/g, 53.3% FG, 41.5% 3FG) missed the UVA win with a foot injury that sidelined him for 15 games.
This team was only at full strength for a few games at the beginning and a few games at the end.
“There was a lot of mixing and matching throughout the year. It wasn’t a shoe-in, it wasn’t a shoe-in, this team,” Young said. “We did a lot of things right, 12-2, 11-2 maybe, coming out of non-conference. We didn’t have a blemish. We still don’t have a blemish.”
At the end of the day, to Young, his team fought back and gave itself an opportunity.
“We had our opportunities, and we came up just short. That’s disappointing, infuriating, and I take a lot of responsibility there,” Young said.
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Chris Graham
