SOUTHEAST\Upset UConn gone.

Byline: Jim Mashek Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald

Darryl Wilson and Marcus Bullard did some catching up on their reading after Mississippi State powered its way to the NCAA Southeast Regional with two victories in Indianapolis.

The subject matter? Not calculus or history. No, the Bulldogs' backcourt duo was poring over reams of copy about Connecticut's versatile guards, Ray Allen and Doron Sheffer.

"That's all we've been reading in the paper," Wilson said.

On Friday night, Wilson did the pouring and Bullard took care of the reaming as Mississippi State stunned UConn, the Southeast's No. 1 seed, with a 60-55 victory in raucous Rupp Arena. The Bulldogs improved to 25-7, winning for the 14th time in their past 16 games, and will play for their first Final Four berth on Sunday.

Wilson, State's relentless senior guard from Kennedy, Ala., hit five of six 3-point shots in the first half and bulldozed the Huskies with a game-high 27 points. Bullard, the sophomore point guard from Long Beach, Miss., played tough defense on Allen, the Huskies' All-American swingman, and handed out six assists while playing most of the second half with an injured right elbow.

Allen needed 25 shots, 10 from outside the arc, to pace UConn (32-3) with 22 points. MSU coach Richard Williams said the Bulldogs made a point to have a defender on Allen or Sheffer whenever they caught the ball on the perimeter.

UConn coach Jim Calhoun thought the Huskies might have spent too much time catching their breath when the Bulldogs were bolting to a 16-point lead in the first 17 minutes of the game. State's Dontae' Jones and Wilson scored all but two of the Bulldogs' first 31 points.

"We just didn't accelerate the offense like we have all year," Calhoun said.

The Huskies could have used the transition game that was missing in action. They shot a season-low 32.4 percent from the field.

"We didn't pass the ball as well as we have been," Allen said. "We had to get the rest of the team involved, and that didn't happen."

Everything that happened seemed to be initiated by the Bulldogs. Erick Dampier, State's 6-foot-11 center, played the entire 40 minutes and finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Like Wilson and Bullard, Dampier said the Bulldogs were overlooked while everyone was heaping praise on the Huskies.

"Everywhere you looked, people were talking about UConn," Dampier said. "We felt a little bit slighted, to be honest about it. This is only the beginning of what we want to do."

The Bulldogs' beginning proved to be the Huskies' end. UConn mounted a serious challenge in the second half as State went more than five minutes without a field goal, ending the drought on Wilson's drive with the shot clock winding down with 1:30 left. Then the Huskies pulled to within 58-55 on Sheffer's 3-pointer, and State was whistled for a 10-seconds call when Whit Hughes was trapped by a double team at midcourt with 28 seconds left.

But the Huskies worked the ball to Allen on their next possession and his 3-point attempt was well off the mark. Dampier was fouled on the play and hit two free throws to put the game away.

"When we shoot well," Williams said, "we're pretty good. It was a situation where our guys were very determined to carry out the game plan and dictate the tempo of the game."

Cincinnati 87, Georgia Tech 70: The second-seeded Bearcats (28-4) started each half with an impressive run, while the third-seeded Yellow Jackets ended their season with one of their worst shooting efforts.

Cincinnati will play fifth-seeded Mississippi State on Sunday. Cincinnati's last trip to a regional final was in 1993 and the year before that the Bearcats reached the Final Four.

A 13-2 run began the game for Cincinnati and it expanded a 40-30 halftime lead with an 11-4 start to the second half. Each time, Georgia Tech (24-12) just kept misfiring. It was a far cry from the other two NCAA tournament games that saw the Yellow Jackets average 96.5 points and shoot 57 and 61 percent.

Cincinnati had a balanced scoring effort, with all five starters and one reserve reaching double figures. Georgia Tech, which relied all season on its perimeter trio of Drew Barry, Stephon Marbury and Matt Harpring, could never get going and shot 37 percent (24-for-65).

The Yellow Jackets had only two worse shooting games this season, one in a loss to Kentucky in Rupp Arena, where Friday night's game was played.

Damon Flint, who averaged 20 points in the Bearcats' opening tournament wins over North Carolina-Greensboro and Temple, finished with 18 points.

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(color) Connecticut's Eric Hayward tangles with Mississippi State's Dontae' Jones, left, and Erick Dampier. Associated Press