Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews Vermont JR G TJ Long

Last Saturday Vermont beat UMass Lowell 66-61 in the America East tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Catamounts have now won 23+ games for the 3rd straight year and are heading to the NCAA tourney for the 3rd straight year. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Vermont JR G TJ Long about his team’s remarkable run.

You began your college career at Fairfield, where you scored a career-high 25 PTS in 24 minutes in a win over Marist: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? Yeah. I think I struggled a bit in the 1st half but in the 2nd half I felt that everything was going in.

Last year you were named conference 6th Man of the Year: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was nice to be recognized but it was not my main goal. It was a tough year but it helped me during the transfer process.

Why did you decide to transfer? I was looking for a change of scenery to get my mind right and wanted to go to a winning program.

You were born/raised in New York: what made you choose Vermont? I always watched them on Saturday mornings growing up. They had a winning culture so when I came up for my visit it seemed like it would provide a great chance to win.

You play for Coach John Becker: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He holds everyone accountable and treats everyone the same. He is great off the court as well: you can have tough conversations with him and he just wants the best for everyone.

You started this season 9-5 but have won 19 of your past 20 with just a 2-PT loss at NJIT on February 8th: has it reached a point where you just expect to win every time that you step onto the court? Yeah. We take pride in wearing that Vermont jersey and when we take the court we feel that we can beat anyone.

In the America East tourney title game on Saturday you scored 14 PTS/4-10 3PM in a 5-PT win over UMass-Lowell: what did it mean to you to win a title, and what was the reaction like in your locker room afterward? It meant everything! That is what we have spent the past 6-7 months working for. In the locker room everyone was super-happy/relieved that we finally accomplished our main goal.

You are a career 82.4% FT shooter: what is the secret to making FTs? Just keep your reps the same and do not over-think it. Take a deep breath and knock it in.

You played several fellow tourney teams in non-conference play including Charleston/Colgate/Yale: which of them impressed you the most? They are all great teams but I would probably choose Yale due to the way they play. They are a really smart team, are really-well coached, and know how to play together.

How do you feel about being a 13-seed in Brooklyn, and what do you know about Duke? It is great: being from New York I know that I will have a lot of family/friends at the Barclays Center. To play a big-name school is what you want in March. We will go out, play hard, and see what happens.