Sophomore guard Mike Jones and the Terrapin men’s basketball team host Virginia Tech tonight. The surprise Hokies are 5-4 in the ACC.

Gary Williams was particularly upbeat yesterday considering what has transpired over the past week. Perhaps it’s because the coach has been in this position before with the Terrapin men’s basketball team.

Even after dropping two straight games to unranked conference foes, Williams spoke with no sense of urgency concerning the Terps’ home tilt tonight against Virginia Tech.

“If you lose [tonight] the season’s not over. Look at last year. We have that to go off of,” Williams said.

Last season is a source of hope for the slumping squad. The Terps (13-7, 4-5 ACC) had an identical conference record at this time last season. That team earned its 11th-straight NCAA tournament appearance after hitting its stride in the final games of the regular season and winning the ACC tournament.

“You can’t worry about if somebody says you’re here or you’re there,” Williams said of his team’s uncertain standing in the postseason picture. “I’ve never worried about those things. If we did, we wouldn’t have gotten where we did last year.”

He hasn’t made a point of discussing last season’s feat with the team.

“This is this year’s team. We have to create our own identity,” he said. “Last year, there was no guarantee we were going to do that at the end of the year. We just had to keep fighting and hope something good would happen. And we can still make it happen. We win [tonight], we’re 5-5 in the league. So we’ll go from there.”

The Hokies (12-8, 5-4) enter Comcast Center fourth in the ACC standings — two spots ahead of the Terps.

Led by sophomore point guard Zabian Dowdell (15.0 points per game), first-year ACC member Virginia Tech is one of the major surprises in the league after being picked 10th in the preseason conference poll.

The Hokies won four of their final five games last season to finish eighth in the then-14-team Big East.

“They rode that momentum into this year,” Williams said. “There’s great motivation in people saying you’re no good before the year starts, before you have a chance to prove it. I think that was the Big East telling everybody they were no good when they left. They’re pretty good.”

Both teams are coming off defeats Saturday. Virginia Tech lost by 20 to Wake Forest. The Terps lost in overtime at Miami four days after losing by 15 at last-place Clemson.

Obscured by the final outcome against the Hurricanes was a step forward for Chris McCray.

The junior guard connected on four 3-pointers as part of a career-high 23 points. It was the most aggressive he has been from the perimeter all season.

Over his previous eight games, McCray shot 33.8 percent (27-80) from the field. He hadn’t made more than two 3-pointers in a game all season.

“Coach just told me to shoot,” McCray said. “He said, ‘Forget everything. Just shoot the ball.’ I did what he told me to do.”

McCray has buoyed his overall numbers by shooting a scorching 91.9 percent from the foul line (57-62) — second best in the ACC. He averages 12.7 points per game.

TERP NOTES: Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said the status tonight of guard Carlos Dixon (13.9 ppg) is uncertain due to a hand injury.