Chicago ? Staring at a 19-point deficit, Southern Illinois could see the season slipping away, its NCAA Tournament plans and season-long goals about to disappear in a lopsided loss.

“Things weren’t going our way and they were just kind of staring out in space and I just said, ‘Hey, we’ve worked so hard why would you quit now?”‘ coach Bruce Weber said.

Georgia players Jarvis Hayes, third from right, Mike Britton and Richard Wehunt, right, sit dejectedly on the bench. The Bulldogs fell, 77-75, to Southern Illinois in a second-round NCAA East Regional game on Sunday in Chicago.

The Salukis never panicked. They knew there was still plenty of basketball yet to play. And after rallying Sunday to stun third-seeded Georgia 77-75 in the East Regional, there’s even more.

“We just stayed confident. Coach just kept telling us he believed in us. We believe in our system,” Southern guard Kent Williams said.

“They were just bullying us earlier in the game, throwing us around and getting shots they wanted and we took that away from them. We knew that wasn’t it. We felt we could cut the lead and make something happen.”

Jermaine Dearman scored 25 points and played a huge role in Southern’s biggest comeback of the season, one that sends the 11th-seeded Salukis to the round of 16 for the first time since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Southern Illinois (28-7) faces Connecticut (26-6) in the East Regional semifinals at Syracuse, N.Y., on Friday. The second-seeded Huskies held on to beat N.C. State 77-74.

“Our new goal now is to beat UConn,” Dearman said.

“We set team goals all year. We said we wanted to make the NCAA tournament, we wanted to win our conference and we wanted to go to the Sweet 16. We’ve reached all our previous team goals.”

With chants of “S-I-U! S-I-U!” reverberating through the United Center, SIU was able to escape a 30-11 hole with 8:29 left in the first half.

“They were the aggressor early. We became the aggressor, and then Jermaine got us back into to it,” Weber said.

“I think when they got up 19, it maybe took a toll on their mind. They probably relaxed a little bit and all of a sudden, ‘Boom!’ we’re back in the game.”

SIU has a grand total of three victories in the tournament. A stunner of No. 6 Texas Tech in the first round Friday was the Salukis’ first NCAA victory since they won once in 1977.

Ten years before that, Walt Frazier who would go on to NBA stardom with the New York Knicks led the Salukis to the 1967 NIT title.

Sunday’s win was arguably the school’s biggest since “Clyde” was on campus more than 30 years ago

“We set a goal it sounded crazy back in the spring to make the Sweet 16. Right now, the Southern Illinois Salukis are going to be there,” said Weber, who is in his fourth season.

Connecticut 77, North Carolina State 74

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 three-pointers and even bigger free throws down the stretch, the second-seeded Huskies beat North Carolina State.

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

Butler 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.

Maryland 87, Wisconsin 57

Washington Juan Dixon stepped into the Maryland record book, and the top-seeded Terrapins methodically marched into the NCAA tournament’s final 16 for the sixth time in nine years.

Dixon scored 29 points to break two school scoring records, leading Maryland past eighth-seeded Wisconsin.

Chris Wilcox had 18 points for Maryland (28-4), which will next face fourth-seeded Kentucky on Friday in Syracuse. The Terrapins, who have won 15 of 16 since Jan. 17, matched the 1998-99 team for most wins in a season and set a school mark for margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game.