ATLANTA - The Hokies commenced matters at the Georgia Dome far differently than they had in losing three of their last four -- and it made all the difference.
Eighth-seeded Tech turned the tables on recent trends by jumping out to a 22-8 lead and riding on top throughout its 65-47 first-round victory over No. 9 seed Miami.
"I can't name too many games where we went into halftime winning," Tech guard Malcolm Delaney said. "Just having a lead and playing like we're playing gave us confidence going into the second half."
The Hokies (18-13) now advance to the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament against top-seeded and top-ranked North Carolina, the same team that defeated Tech less than two weeks ago.
Unlike Sunday's crushing loss to Florida State, the Hokies were the ones who led from the start by creating and converting open threes early on.
"To see Dorenzo (Hudson) step into that jumper and knock that down, that not only gives us the lead but it gave him confidence," Tech Coach Seth Greenberg said. "And that confidence I think transfers over to how he plays defensively."
In the face of arguably Tech's best defensive effort of the season, Miami's (18-12) Adrian Thomas and Jack McClinton led Miami with a mere nine points each. McClinton leads the ACC in three pointers and averaged 19.7 points per game heading in.
"I didn't play my game at all," McClinton, a senior, said. "I wasn't going to get my shot as much. I played a bad game."
McClinton also doled due credit to the Tech defense, which muzzled the all-ACC first-teamer with a heavy dose of Hudson and Delaney.
"You've got to try to keep a hand on him and get help off passes," Hudson said. "We did a good job chasing him and once he got the pass you had help with that situation."
Hudson nailed a corner three for the game's first score. Delaney hit the team's third trifecta less than six minutes into the game, lifting the lead to 12-2.
The 'Canes punished Tech on the glass early, though, grabbing five offensive rebounds in the first nine minutes. Tech combated this with good shot contention and hitting its open looks, jumping out to an 18-8 lead.
Tech would dominate the post from there on out, outrebounding Miami 35-22 and holding Miami's sizeable frontcourt of Jimmy Graham, Dwayne Collins, and Cyrus McGowan to four points each.
Collins scored 23 when the teams met in January .
Sophomore Jeff Allen notched eight rebounds and three steals while sophomore J.T. Thompson came off the bench to score 12 points and add eight boards.
The level of physical play magnified to ACC Tournament caliber when the two clubs committed five fouls during a 1:45 span in which the score stagnated.
A runner from senior A.D. Vassallo and a two by Allen helped Tech emerge from the stalemate that dominated the middle portions of the second half. This expanded Tech's lead to 22-8 as the clock sunk under seven minutes in the first half.
Miami chipped the lead down to 22-13 in the moments following before Allen baby-hooked a shot in from close range.
Once Tech started rebounding well, fouls and turnovers began plaguing them on offense while its perimeter defense deteriorated.
Allen made layup in transition to push it to 28-15, before Adrian Thomas and McClinton combined on three from beyond the arc to surge back as halftime approached. The teams went into the locker room with Tech holding a narrow 28-24 advantage.
After the Hokies shelled out their worst shooting performance of the season on Sunday with a 30.8 percent mark, they recovered drastically versus Miami, hitting over 47 percent in the first half and 50 percent for the game.
Allen led the Hokies in the first session with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
"I think we moved the ball pretty good," Vassallo said. "We got guys shooting the ball well ... We were kind of struggling the last couple of games trying to get shots closer to the rim, and today we finished and we had some good looks."
Allen hurried off to the locker room with a trainer early in the second half due to the blooding falling from his lip to his uniform. He returned minutes later as an unnamed No. 13.
The Hokies escaped this Allen-less period with a 40-32 lead thanks to good free throw shooting. They would eventually hit seven straight from the line and stretch the lead to 43-32 with the clock approaching 12 minutes in the second half.
Vassallo's dish inside to Thompson for an emphatic dunk pushed the margin up to 20 points -- 57-37 -- which ended the competitive phase of the contest with over seven minutes left.
Thompson finished with 12 points off the bench to go along with nine rebounds. Delaney led all scorers with 17, while Vassallo had 14 and eight rebounds.
The Hokies now must defeat the No. 1 team in the nation, North Carolina, for a certain bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Tar Heels and Hokies will tangle in the second round of the ACC tournament at noon on Friday.