BLACKSBURG, Va. _ North Carolina has figured out how to play at home.
On the road? That's a different story.
The 10th-ranked Tar Heels dropped an 80-69 road decision to Virginia Tech on Monday night.
It was UNC's first loss to the Hokies Virginia Tech (14-6, 3-4) since 2010 and the Heels (16-5, 5-3 ACC) third loss in four ACC road games this season.
Their one road win? By one point against a shorthanded Notre Dame team on Jan. 13.
The balanced, attacking formula that has worked so well at the Smith Center, to the tune of a 4-0 record and an average margin of victory of 14 points, gets lost somewhere when the Tar Heels leave Chapel Hill.
It did again on Monday night against a desperate Virginia Tech team, which had lost two straight ACC games and dropped a home game to rival Virginia by 26 points on Jan. 3.
Junior guard Ahmed Hill (18 points) led the Hokies to their best win of the season and snap a seven-game losing streak to the Tar Heels.
Hill scored seven straight points in one stretch of the second half as Virginia Tech doubled a seven-point halftime lead, 68-54, at 6:25 in the second half. The Heels couldn't quite make a dent in it.
Junior forward Luke Maye led UNC with 23 points, he was dominant early in the first half scoring 10 of UNC's first 15 points. But senior guard Joel Berry (23 points) was the only other UNC player in double-digits.
Starters Theo Pinson and Cam Johnson, who have been so instrumental and aggressive in recent home wins, combined to seven points.
Virginia Tech had seven different players make at least one 3-pointer and three different players in double-digits including 19 from guard Justin Robinson, who led a 12-2 run to close out the first half.
