One more win. That’s what Virginia Tech’s players kept thinking as the regular season wound down. They beat No. 12 Clemson on the road on Feb. 25 to give them a big NCAA tournament resume-building victory and figured one more over a ranked team would have done the trick.

They played No. 7 Duke, No. 2 UNC and No. 24 Florida State in consecutive games, but they fell short every time.

The Hokies decided to abandon that way of thinking – the constant fretting of needing one more win – this week in the ACC tournament, and that strategy seems to be working.

Today’s 65-47 ACC tournament first-round win over Miami was proof positive of that.

The Miami win was not the ranked one they needed. It’s a good win, one that keeps them alive for the Big Dance, but they need another marquee victory to get in. Toppling top-ranked North Carolina tomorrow in the tournament quarterfinals would be just that.

But the Hokies claim they aren’t thinking about the NCAA tournament anymore. They’re just focusing on playing their best and moving on in the ACC tournament. That helped them play one of their best games of the season today, and they’re hoping for a similar result tomorrow against No. 1 UNC.

The Tar Heels are superior to most teams in talent, with potential stars at every position, but they might be without point guard Ty Lawson, who is still hobbled by a swollen big toe.

Most people I’ve talked to, including the majority of Tech’s beat writers, think a win over Carolina tomorrow would almost certainly get the Hokies in. They’re starting to convince me.

That would give Tech two wins over No. 1-ranked teams (it beat then No. 1 Wake Forest 78-71 on Jan. 21) and three top 25 wins total, along with Wake and Clemson, and if Boston College beats Virginia tonight to get into the NCAAs, that would help the Hokies even more.

Tech showed a lot of life today in what essentially amounted to an NCAA tournament elimination game. It avoided the NIT for at least one more day.

The Hokies played one of their best defensive games of the season, holding the Hurricanes to 34.6 percent shooting. Their main objective was to slow down first team all-ACC guard Jack McClinton.

Tech guards Malcolm Delaney and Dorenzo Hudson took turns defending McClinton, and they were near perfect in their execution. McClinton, who averaged 19.7 points in the regular season, tied a season low with nine points on 4 of 11 shooting (1 of 6 from 3-point range). He also had seven turnovers and only one assist.

The Hokies enjoyed one of their best shooting games of the season, making 50 percent of their shots, despite a 1 for 10 effort from Delaney. The rest of the team shot 20 of 32.

Delaney did however make 14 of 15 free throws and dished out eight assists.

Other notes from the game …

*Delaney now holds the single-season Tech record for most free throws in a season. He now has 205, five more than Bimbo Coles had in 1986 when he previously set the mark.

*Vassallo now holds the mark for most career 3-pointers in Tech history (258). He made 2 of 8 treys and now has one more than the previous record holder, Wally Lancaster, who played from 1986-89.

*Miami’s 47 points were the fewest allowed by Tech in an ACC game and the fewest allowed by Tech in any game since its 58-46 win over Liberty on Dec. 19, 2007.

*The 18-point deficit was the largest by Tech over an ACC foe since an 80-58 win over Wake Forest on March 4, 2008.

*Tech has held only two ACC teams to lower than 40 percent shooting this season: Miami today (34.6) and Georgia Tech on Feb. 11 (39.7). The Hokies have held 10 opponents under 40 percent all season.

*The Hokies are now 1-1 in ACC tournament first-round games and 4-4 overall.

*McClinton was awarded the 2009 Skip Prosser Award as the ACC’s top scholar-athlete for basketball during a brief ceremony before the game. He is a three-time all-ACC academic team selection.

*First celebrity sighting of the day. Wide receiver Terrell Owens, just days after being cast off by the Dallas Cowboys and signed by the Buffalo Bills, was spotted in the crowd during the Georgia Tech-Clemson game.