Associated Press

North Carolina forward Tyler Zeller blocks the shot of Virginia Tech forward J.T. Thompson during the second half of Jan. 10 game in Chapel Hill. North Carolina won 78-64.

The North Carolina men's basketball team is the defending NCAA champion, but it's also an unranked squad with a losing ACC record.

Nevertheless, a win over the visiting Tar Heels on Thursday would still be one that Virginia Tech and its fans would savor.

The Hokies get a second chance at beating UNC at 9 p.m. Thursday in front of what should be a full house at Cassell Coliseum. The game will be televised on WDBJ.

Tech led 38-34 at halftime when the teams met in Chapel Hill on Jan. 10. The Hokies wound up losing 78-64.

But the Tar Heels (13-8, 2-4) have lost four of their past five games, including a home loss Sunday to Virginia.

"We've got some work to do, there's no question about it," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "We're not running the ball anything like I would like to run it. We're playing zone. We've got three or four different offenses that we've tried to use, as opposed to sticking with one.

"Right now it hasn't worked as well as we would like for it to work. I'm at wit's end, but at the same time, I still have to keep trying to think of something to do. ... We're going to tweak around with it a little bit and see if we can change a few other things and get them to buy into it a little bit more."

The Tar Heels will try to contain Tech point guard Malcolm Delaney, who is averaging a league-best 19.7 points.

Delaney scored 26 points against UNC in the first meeting, but only six of those points came in the second half.

"In the second half ... we started playing better defense and not fouling Malcolm Delaney and putting him on the free-throw line so many times," Williams said. "We tried to do a better job of putting him in front of us and getting a hand up on his shot.

"You can't stop Malcolm. He's just too good. But hopefully you can slow him down a little bit."

The Hokies (16-4, 3-3) are coming off an 82-75 loss at Miami on Sunday in which they trailed 47-30 at halftime.

"I'm extremely disappointed in our defensive execution in the first half -- our attention to detail, our sense of urgency, our toughness, our communication was just not what it needs to be if we're going to be relevant the next 10 games," coach Seth Greenberg said.

"We made ... too many turnovers that led to baskets."

In the teams' first meeting, the Tar Heels got their fast break going and shot 65.2 percent from the field in the second half.

So Virginia Tech will need good transition defense Thursday.

"When we don't turn it over, it's pretty good right now," Greenberg said of his transition defense. "We're doing a better job of outnumbering the ball. We're doing a better job of containing the basketball.

"We can't turn it over. ... If we take care of the ball, I think our transition defense will be fine. It's when we turn the ball over that it concerns me."