By The Associated Press

WORCESTER, Mass. – Julius Hodge shouted to his fans at the buzzer, saying he knew this would happen all along: North Carolina State was heading to the round of 16, and the defending champion was knocked out – again.

Hodge scored on a slashing drive through the lane with 4.3 seconds left to break a 62-all tie and send North Carolina State past second-seeded Connecticut 65-62 Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

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 the winner of Bucknell-Wisconsin.

No team has repeated since Duke in 1991-92, but the defending national champion Huskies (23-8) seemed almost a lock to at least 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.

Hodge, who yelled, “I told you! I told you!” to Wolfpack fans after the buzzer sounded, was fouled by Ed Nelson on his drive and completed the three-point play. When Marcus Williams’ desperation 3 at the buzzer fell short, the Wolfpack had its biggest win in 16 years.

Hodge finished with 17 points and six assists, Cameron Bennerman had his second straight solid game with 15 points, Ilian Evtimov had 11 before fouling out with 2:16 left, and Andrew Brackman had 10 points.

North Carolina 92, Iowa State 65

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Sean May and sixth man Marvin Williams bullied North Carolina back to the round of 16, leaving Iowa State’s six-man rotation gasping for air along the way.

May had 24 points and 17 rebounds, Williams finished with a career-high 15 rebounds and the top-seeded Tar Heels beat the Cyclones 92-65 Sunday to advance past the first weekend for the first time in five seasons.

Williams scored 20 points – tying his season high for the second consecutive game – and Rashad McCants added 17 for North Carolina (29-4), which went to the Final Four in 2000 before the tournament drought. Now, coach Roy Williams has the Tar Heels back in the regional semifinals in his second season, the 10th time he’s made it that far in 17 NCAA tournament appearances.

The Tar Heels will face fifth-seeded Villanova next weekend. They also set up a possible matchup with league rival North Carolina State in the final of the Syracuse Regional. The 10th-seeded Wolfpack beat No. 2 seed Connecticut 65-62 Sunday.

This one was pretty easy. Iowa State (19-12) beat Minnesota in the first round with stifling defense, but it was no match for North Carolina’s offensive prowess. Time and again, point guard Raymond Felton penetrated to find open teammates, and if they missed their shot, May or Williams likely was there to clean it up.

Oklahoma St. 85, Southern Illinois 77

OKLAHOMA CITY – Ivan McFarlin swiped the ball, hurtled down the court, and crashed to the hardwood – then got up with a smile. He was having the game of his career.

With leading scorer Joey Graham seated on the bench thanks to four fouls, McFarlin powered a 10-2 run that extended Oklahoma State’s lead, and the Cowboys beat seventh-seeded Southern Illinois 85-77 Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

McFarlin scored a career-high 31 points, and his sequence during the run was tremendous. He first scored on a reverse layup from a pass by Terrence Crawford, then returned the favor with a pass to set up Crawford’s right-handed jam.

After Stetson Hairston answered with a driving layup for Southern Illinois, John Lucas III hit a jumper in the lane before McFarlin added a pair of layups under the basket against LaMar Owen.

Villanova 76, Florida 65

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Basket by basket, rebound by rebound, Villanova’s Jason Fraser stirred memories of 20 years ago.

The fifth-seeded Wildcats, back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999, got a huge performance from their 6-foot-10 backup center and humbled Florida 76-65 Sunday in the second round of the Syracuse Regional.

With leading scorer Allan Ray struggling and another of Villanova’s top players sitting out much of the game with an injury, Fraser and guard Randy Foye literally took the team on their backs and led the Wildcats into the round of 16 for the first time since 1988 – where they will face North Carolina.

Twenty years ago, Villanova made an improbable run to their only national title. And with the star of that team – Ed Pinckney – on the bench as an assistant coach, the Wildcats look capable of getting back to the Final Four.

No. 20 Wisconsin 71, Bucknell 62

OKLAHOMA CITY – Maybe Bucknell could’ve found a scheme to stop Wisconsin’s Mike Wilkinson or Zach Morley. Handling both, however, was too much for the upstart Bison.

The 6-foot-8 forwards consistently put themselves in all the right places, especially when things were tight in the second half, carrying the Badgers to a 71-62 victory Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament that sent 14th-seeded Bucknell back to its Pennsylvania campus with plenty to be proud of nonetheless.

Morley, who was shut out in 28 minutes of a first-round win over Northern Iowa, was 6-of-7 with three 3-pointers and 15 points. His tap-in with 8:41 left put the Badgers (24-8) ahead for good, then he protected the lead with rebounds on the next two defensive stands. He finished with eight boards.

The Bison (24-9) were still within four points when Wilkinson showed why he’s won more games than any player in school history. He personally went on a 7-2 run, capped by a three-point play to push the lead back to nine, virtually ending Bucknell’s bid to become just the third No. 14 to reach the NCAA’s round of 16.

Louisville 76, Georgia Tech 54

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Louisville sure plays like a No. 1 seed.

Francisco Garcia scored 18 of his 21 points in the first half and Taquan Dean stopped any hope Georgia Tech had for a rally with back-to-back 3-pointers, sealing a 76-54 victory that sent Louisville to the regional semifinals for the first time since 1997.

Dean finished with 14 points, all but two on 3-pointers, and also had six rebounds and two assists. Larry O’Bannon added 16 for the fourth-seeded Cardinals (31-4), who have won 20 of their last 21. As the final seconds ticked down, the thousands of Cardinals fans who were lining up Saturday night to buy leftover tickets started chanting “Sweet 16! Sweet 16!” Garcia was beaming as he came out of the game and hugged coach Rick Pitino, who improved to 29-9 in 11 NCAA tournament appearances.

Duke 63, Mississippi State 55

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With one of his most unlikely Duke teams, Mike Krzyzewski moved himself into the NCAA tournament record books and the Blue Devils into the round of 16.

Daniel Ewing handled the offense and Shelden Williams took care of defense to lead the top-seeded Blue Devils to a 63-55 win over Mississippi State in the second round of the Austin Regional. The win was a record 66th tournament victory for Coach K, moving him ahead of Dean Smith at the top of the list.

It also sent Duke (27-5) into the regional semifinals for the eighth consecutive year, the longest current streak in the nation.

The Blue Devils will play fifth-seeded Michigan State.

But it wasn’t an easy trip.

Duke was admittedly embarrassed after squeaking out a 57-46 win over 16th-seeded Delaware State in the first round, and the Blue Devils had their hands full with ninth-seeded Mississippi State (23-11).

They shot just 38 percent, had 16 turnovers and almost lost what should have been a pro-Duke crowd when the game was tied at 50 with under 5 minutes to play.

Because rival North Carolina played in the first game, and Tar Heels fans snapped up almost 18,000 tickets in the Charlotte Coliseum, the crowd shifted to the Bulldogs late.