North Carolina has a chance for redemption tonight in Blacksburg, Va.
Five days after a 33-point loss — its most lopsided loss under coach Roy Williams — North Carolina will play at Virginia Tech in its second straight ACC road game. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. (ESPN Ch. 33).
With doubts about their strength increasing, the Tar Heels will try to show that they're still an ACC threat and the NCAA tournament contenders they were thought to be when the season started.
"We're not very excited about the way we played," Williams said of last Saturday's 90-57 loss at Florida State. "We better be excited about getting better."
None of North Carolina's five NCAA tournament championship teams, or the 1924 team that was named the national champion, lost a game by 33 points.
No NCAA champion, since the tournament started in 1939, won the title after losing a game by 33 points. Records for the City College of New York's 1950 championship couldn't be located.
Williams, in his ninth season at North Carolina and his 24th overall as a head coach, said he has seen several of his Kansas and North Carolina teams become mentally tougher and recover from adversity.
"Go back to last year, and we were struggling," Williams said. "When we went down the stretch, those guys got tougher and tougher.
"Hopefully, this team will be able to do the same type of thing. A lot of it is attention to detail."
The Tar Heels are 15-3 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, with all the losses coming away from Chapel Hill. The Hokies (11-6, 0-3) have lost their ACC games by a total of nine points.
Coach Seth Greenberg of Virginia Tech said he would be more concerned if his team were losing by one-sided margins, but the ACC losses have been by four, three and two points.
"Obviously, it's not exactly the best time to play Carolina," Greenberg said. "I'd like to thank Leonard (Hamilton, the FSU coach) for that."
Virginia Tech's youth and inexperience usually are apparent. Greenberg said his players often can't finish close games because they don't know what's needed to put down an opponent. He added that although his players compete at a high level, they haven't grasped how hard they have play to win in the ACC, even at home.
Virginia Tech lost J.T. Thompson, a high-energy player who could provide a late spark, to injury. Greenberg would like the Hokies to run more and create a faster pace, but he understands that running against the Tar Heels — who prefer the fastest of tempos — might not be in his team's interest.
"We've got to make good decisions, there's no doubt about it," Greenberg said. "We've got to score some easy baskets. It's hard to grind it our when you've got (John) Henson and (Tyler) Zeller and their length."
Virginia Tech also hopes to have Erick Green back. Green, a junior guard, is recovering from a sprained left knee and didn't play the last game, a 61-59 loss at Boston College last weekend.
Green leads Virginia Tech with averages of 16.1 points, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals. Virginia Tech athletics officials said Wednesday his availability will be a game-time decision, but he has said he will play.
"It is what it is," Greenberg said. "This is the team we have. We're not going to make excuses. It's our job to get these guys at a little bit higher level. It's not doom and gloom around here."
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