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Miami-Virginia Tech Preview

Jan 13, 2010 - 1:47 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Miami (FL) (15-1) at Virginia Tech (12-2), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Miami is back in the national rankings for the first time in more than a year, but with plenty of road games coming up, there's no guarantee it will remain there.

The 23rd-ranked Hurricanes look to win their eighth straight and snap a three-game slide to Virginia Tech on Wednesday night when the teams meet in Blacksburg for the first time in two seasons.

Off to its best start since 1959-60, Miami (15-1, 1-1 ACC) returned to the polls this week for the first time since Dec. 1, 2008, following Saturday's 67-66 victory over Wake Forest.

"I'm happy for my guys, that they have earned the recognition for all the hard work they've put into this season," sixth-year coach Frank Haith told the school's official Web site Monday. "But they understand we still have a lot of work left to do."

Winning on the road would be a good start. The Hurricanes, whose only loss this season was 61-60 at Boston College on Dec. 6, have dropped 23 of 28 on the road in ACC play.

Starting Wednesday at Cassell Coliseum, Miami plays five of its next seven away from Coral Gables.

In their last visit to Blacksburg, the Hurricanes won 74-71 on Feb. 9, 2008.

Miami, though, has lost the last three meetings, including a 65-47 defeat on March 12 in the first round of the ACC tournament.

Malcolm Delaney led the Hokies with 17 points in that matchup despite missing nine of 10 field-goal attempts.

Delaney, a junior guard, is averaging an ACC-best 20.2 points. Returning from an ankle injury that sidelined him for nearly two games, Delaney scored 20 of his 26 in the first half of Sunday's 78-64 loss at then-No. 9 North Carolina.

Virginia Tech (12-2, 0-1) led by four at the break but had its nine-game winning streak snapped as the Tar Heels shot 65.2 percent in the final 20 minutes.

"I'm just really disappointed in who we were in the second half," said Hokies coach Seth Greenberg, a Miami assistant from 1985-87. "If that's going to be who we are for 20 minutes of the game, we're not going to be as good as we'd like to be."

Virginia Tech has won its seven home games this season by an average of 22.7 points, but it has lost five straight and 14 of 16 versus ranked opponents.

Snapping that skid could be difficult against a Miami team that is among the best defensive teams in the nation. The Hurricanes, who have held their last eight opponents to less than 40 percent shooting, lead the ACC in scoring defense at 58.0 points per game.

Miami, though, isn't just relying on its stingy defense. The Hurricanes are second in the conference, shooting 49.3 percent. Senior forward Dwayne Collins, who is hitting 61.9 percent from the field, leads Miami with 12.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Collins had a season-high 23 points with 11 rebounds Saturday and is one double-double shy of tying Constantin Popa for fifth all-time in program history with 20.

Miami and Virginia Tech have split 16 all-time meetings.