Associated Press

Virginia Tech forward J.T. Thompson dunks as Miami's James Dews looks on in the ACC Tournament at Charlotte Bobcats Arena on Friday. Thompson scored six points in the victory that sent the Hokies into today's semifinals.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If not for the season's first Virginia Tech-North Carolina men's basketball game, the Hokies might not be where they are today, on the brink of an NCAA tournament bid with a second battle with the Tar Heels looming.

It has been exactly four weeks since the Hokies visited Chapel Hill and suffered the most lopsided loss of Seth Greenberg's the five-year coaching era at Tech, 92-53.

Since that game, the Hokies have won five of six games, including a 63-49 victory over Miami on Friday in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

Fourth-seeded Tech (19-12) will face No. 1 Carolina (30-2) in the semifinals at 1:30 p.m., today.

"Everybody knows that they are one of the best teams in the nation right now and what happened the first time when we played them," Tech junior A.D. Vassallo said. "We all remember."

The Hokies were outrebounded 54-24 and had 21 turnovers in a game Carolina led 71-32 with 9:35 left.

Freshman guard Malcolm Delaney told reporters that day that the Hokies "just gave up."

That might have offended some coaches and some teammates, but nobody disagreed with him. When asked Saturday if the Hokies had quit in the first North Carolina game, Greenberg had to think for a moment.

"Know what?" Greenberg said. "Carolina is that good. If they're really good and we're really bad, it's going to be really ugly. That day, they were really good, we were really bad and it got really ugly."

Greenberg praised Vassallo and Delaney for their "straight talk" following the debacle in Chapel Hill.

"If you have your teammates' trust, you can say the things [Delaney] said," Greenberg continued. "That group is very close. That's part of leadership, holding someone else accountable, and I have no problem with that."

Delaney's 3-pointer with 8:38 remaining Friday gave the Hokies a 44-42 lead and sparked an 18-2 run that included another Delaney trey to extend a four-point Tech lead to seven with 6:40 left.

"Malcolm and Hank [Thorns] have innate leadership skills and they have a little toughness," Greenberg said. "It sounds a little silly, but they both have a football background and it helps them. Malcolm was a quarterback. He's used to being in a huddle."

Delaney admitted that he had suggested after the first Carolina game that the Hokies had quit -- "I did," he said -- but he wouldn't say if he still feels that way.

"I'm not going to comment on that," he said. "That's stuff in the past. I'm not worried about that. I never said nobody's name. A lot of the people on the team, even coaches, said I needed to say what I said."

Senior co-captain Deron Washington has forgotten what it was that was said.

"I just know it was a tough locker room," Washington said. "I was angry and pretty frustrated. I know I never expected to lose a game like that. I think that game's going to motivate a lot of people, but I don't think we can count on Carolina taking us lightly. They don't take nobody lightly."

Greenberg wouldn't attribute the Hokies' turnaround solely to the blowout at North Carolina. In its next outing, Tech trailed at Maryland by 14 points in the first half before rallying for a 69-65 victory.

"When I look back at that first [Carolina] game and I look at our basketball team now, you can't even think they're the same basketball team," Greenberg said. "Having said that, we're playing a team that's better also.

"That was an embarrassing moment, but, through that situation, it brought our team that much closer together. I think about A.D. stepping up in the locker room and Malcolm stepping up and I thought that straight talk brought us closer together. I've used the line before, but it was almost a cleansing experience for us."