Worcester, Mass. ? Julius Hodge looked up and saw Rudy Gay smiling with the game on the line. There was no way Hodge would let the Connecticut freshman stand there smirking as the final seconds ticked away.

So the flashy North Carolina State senior made his move. He darted past Gay — leaving him sprawled on the floor — and scored on a slashing drive with 4.3 seconds left to break a 62-all tie and send the Wolfpack past the defending national champions, 65-62, Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“He started clapping his hands and smiling,” said Hodge, who finished with 17 points and six assists. “I just felt like there was no way I was going to be denied.”

Hodge was fouled on the play by Ed Nelson and completed the three-point play. The Wolfpack survived after Marcus Williams missed a desperation three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer.

North Carolina State (21-13), the 10th seed in the Syracuse Regional, advances to the regional semifinals for the first time since 1989 and will play sixth-seeded Wisconsin in the next round.

No team has repeated since Duke in 1991-92, but the second-seeded Huskies (23-8) seemed almost a lock at least to move past the second round. They went into the game 27-0 against teams seeded sixth or lower in the tournament. And, in 19 years under coach Jim Calhoun, they were 23-2 in the first two rounds of the tournament, reaching the regional semifinals 13 times.

The loss also was a setback for the Big East conference, which has lost four teams so far, including a No. 2 seed and two No. 4 seeds.

N.C. State started the season 10-1, but injuries and illness sent the team into a 3-9 tailspin that prompted fans to call for head coach Herb Sendek to be fired. When the Wolfpack beat fifth-ranked Wake Forest in the ACC quarterfinals, though, it was assured of an at-large bid.

UConn players, from left, Rashad Anderson, Ed Nelson, Charlie Villanueva, Marcus Williams and Rudy Gay stand dejectedly during the Huskies' loss to N.C. State.

“This team has had a quiet confidence throughout, certainly not overconfidence, clearly not arrogance, but a quiet confidence,” Sendek said.