Washington ? Caron Butler was nearly perfect, and that was just enough for Connecticut to move to on in the NCAA tournament.

With Butler scoring a career-high 34 points, including big 3-pointers and even bigger free throws down the stretch, the second-seeded Huskies beat North Carolina State 77-74 Sunday in the second round of the East Regional.

Connecticut (26-6) will play the winner of the Georgia-Southern Illinois game on Friday in Syracuse, N.Y., in the regional semifinals.

Butler was the reason.

The sophomore forward was 10-for-13 from the field, 12-for-12 from the free-throw line and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Huskies, who didn’t have their 11th straight win until the final buzzer sounded and Julius Hodge’s long 3-point attempt bounced off the rim.

Anthony Grundy had 17 points on 5-for-17 shooting for the seventh-seeded Wolfpack (23-11), who were making their first NCAA appearance since 1991.

Every one of Butler’s points was needed because the Huskies turned the ball over again and again against the Wolfpack’s pressure defense. Connecticut finished with 20 turnovers, eight of which came in the opening eight minutes of the second half.

Butler was 2-for-3 from 3-point range, both coming in the final 6:06. His second came with 2 seconds left on the shot clock and gave the Huskies a 70-63 lead with 2:36 to play.

Archie Miller made a 3 with 2:09 left to get the Wolfpack within 72-68 and the senior guard drove the lane and found Marcus Melvin for a 3 with 47 seconds left that made it a one-point game.

Connecticut ran the clock down on its next possession and it seemed Butler waited too long to get his 3-point attempt off. As the shot clock buzzer sounded, he shot and was hit on the arm by Hodge. Butler made all three free throws for a 75-71 lead with 11 seconds to play.

North Carolina State came down court and freshman Ilian Evtimov hit a 3 from the corner with 4.3 seconds left to bring the Wolfpack back within one.

Connecticut inbounded the ball to Butler, who was fouled immediately. He made two more free throws to make Connecticut 21-of-22 from the line for the game, but Hodge’s dead-on 3-point attempt bounced off the rim.

Hodge, a freshman credited with being the difference for North Carolina State this season, was face down on the floor after missing the shot and Grundy picked him up by the shirt.

Tony Robertson had 18 points for the Huskies, who improved to 8-2 in second-round games under Jim Calhoun.

Melvin, a 6-foot-9 forward, had 15 points and was 4-for-7 from 3-point range for the Wolfpack, while Hodge had 13 points and nine rebounds.

The game was North Carolina State’s third in a row against a recent national champion. The Wolfpack lost to defending champion Duke in the finals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and beat 2000 champion Michigan State in the first round Friday, but Butler made sure they couldn’t beat the 1999 champion.