Amherst, Mass. ? Massachusetts made sure its first home game against a defending national champion was one to remember.

The Minutemen stunned seventh-ranked Connecticut, 61-59, on Rashaun Freeman’s layup with 4.3 seconds to play Thursday night. Many of the 9,037 fans stormed the court at Mullins Center after the final buzzer. It was the largest crowd in Amherst in four years.

“I felt like we won the national championship. I never saw a crowd like that around here,” UMass guard Anthony Anderson said. “We’ve been saying that this was our year. Maybe we showed it tonight.”

Freeman, who led UMass with 18 points and eight rebounds, came up big time and again for the Minutemen (3-2), who beat the Huskies for the first time in 14 meetings.

The Huskies (4-1) ran into a hostile environment on their first road trip of the season.

Freeman and his teammates outhustled the Huskies from the opening tip and got the best of UConn’s frontcourt, which had been outrebounding opponents by an average of 25 boards a game. The teams finished even with 39 rebounds each, but UMass had a slight edge on the glass in the first half and outscored Connecticut 42-24 in the paint for the game.

“I told them at halftime we outrebounded UConn. That’s unbelievable,” UMass coach Steve Lappas said. “I also told them that we outscored them for a half, that’s also unbelievable. Now the big challenge — we’ve got to win the second half.”

The Huskies came back from a 12-point, first-half deficit and held a tenuous five-point lead late in the game.

But Freeman hit consecutive baskets with under four minutes left, pulling the Minutemen within 55-54.

Massachusetts' Maurice Maxwell (3) pulls down a rebound against Connecticut's Rudy Gay, top, and Rashad Anderson in the first half. The Minutemen stunned the seventh-ranked Huskies, 61-59, Thursday in Amherst, Mass.

Turnovers doomed the Huskies down the stretch. Antonio Kellogg dribbled the ball off his foot, and the Minutemen made him pay. Jeff Viggiano hit a three-pointer with 55.2 seconds left to give UMass a 57-55 lead.

“It had to be my best basket at UMass,” Viggiano said. “It helps when your teammates get behind you.”

After UConn’s Rudy Gay hit a pair of free throws to tie on the next possession, the Minutemen raced upcourt on the inbounds play and Art Bowers hit Freeman in full stride for the winner. For Freeman, the buzzer came just in time.

“I had leg cramps at the end,” Freeman said. “I really didn’t want to go into overtime.”

It was UConn coach Jim Calhoun’s first loss to UMass in his 19 years with the Huskies.

“They outworked us, outhustled us and we never really responded,” Calhoun said. “I couldn’t be more disappointed.”

Rudy Gay had 13 points for UConn. Josh Boone added 12 and led the Huskies with nine rebounds.

The Minutemen dominated inside early and used a 14-1 run to put the Huskies in an early hole. Stephan Lasme and Freeman combined for eight points in the spurt. Viggiano’s putback with 12 minutes remaining capped the run and gave UMass an 18-7 lead, bringing a thunderous roar from the crowd.

Gay’s two free throws with 2:24 left pulled the Huskies even at 27-all, and after a steal by Marcus Williams, the Huskies briefly grabbed the lead by a basket on Charlie Villanueva’s dunk.

The Minutemen closed out the half on Bower’s jumper to take a 31-29 lead at the break.

“It was a gutsy win for our kids,” Lappas said.

No. 1 Illinois 74, Georgetown 59

Washington — In the first half, Illinois trailed for 11 minutes, 20 seconds, longer than it had in its first seven games combined. In the second half, the Fighting Illini were in control in a solid defense of their No. 1 ranking.

Roger Powell scored 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting, and Illinois shot 65 percent in the second half to pull away for a victory over Georgetown.

Illinois (8-0) is two-thirds of the way to holding a No. 1 ranking for consecutive weeks for the first time in school history. The Illini lost their first game the previous two times they gained the top spot. This time, they’ve held their own with a 78-59 win over Chicago State on Monday and Thursday’s win over Georgetown, with a game against Oregon on Saturday in Chicago still to come.

James Augustine added 15 points, and Luther Head had 13 points and five assists. Illinois finished with 20 assists, just short of its league-leading 22.3 average.