WORCESTER, Mass. - Two former champions made it out of Worcester and into the NCAA round of 16 - just not the two anyone expected.

Fifth-seeded Michigan State and No. 10 seed North Carolina State won Sunday while Connecticut and Syracuse, who won the last two titles, couldn't make it out of the opening weekend.

"It feels that much better because no one believed," N.C. State forward Julius Hodge said after the Wolfpack beat defending champion UConn 65-62. "I just felt like there was no way I was going to be denied."

Maurice Ager scored 19 points, and Paul Davis had 11 points with 14 rebounds as Michigan State won 72-61 to spoil the party for 13th-seeded Vermont. The Spartans (24-6) reached the round of 16 for the sixth time in eight years after knocking off the plucky school with the wacky coach that upset 2003 champion Syracuse for its first NCAA tournament victory.

"Don't look at Vermont as just a little team that went on a nice run," said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who led the Spartans to their title in 2000. "They beat a tough Syracuse team, and they're a tough team.

Vermont star Taylor Coppenrath, a three-time America East player of the year, shot just 5-of-23 - and Michigan State proved too fast in transition. Coppenrath finished with 16 points with 14 rebounds, but 10 of the boards were on offense and many came on his own misses.

T.J. Sorrentine scored 26 but made just six of 15 shots from 3-point range although he topped the 2,000-point mark in the game and is the third most prolific scorer in Vermont (25-7) history. Germain Mopa Njila, who averaged six points but had 20 in the first-round victory, didn't score Sunday.

"In the long run, we'll be looking at this as a great thing. But we all feel now that this is kind of an opportunity given away," Vermont center Martin Klimes said. "We really wanted to go to the Sweet 16. We felt like we had a chance, but in the end we just couldn't handle them."

Izzo improved to 21-6 in the tournament - a winning percentage second among active coaches to Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. They'll face off in Austin, Texas.

"You know your program has come a long way when you lose to Michigan State and you're crushed," said Vermont coach Tom Brennan, who is retiring. "It was the greatest ride that I could ever, ever have had. You know you're in a very special place when your realities outweigh your dreams. And that's where I am."

Brennan, who led the school to its only three NCAA berths, shook hands with the Spartans players and coaches and walked right off the court to the locker room. Coppenrath gave a final, exhausted wave to the Vermont fans, who were still cheering "U-V-M!" and "Thank you, Tom!" long after the game was over.

N.C. State (21-13), the 1983 champion and the 10th seed in the Syracuse Regional this year, advances to the regional semifinals for the first time since 1989 and will play sixth-seeded Wisconsin next.

No team has repeated since Duke in 1991-92, but second-seeded UConn (23-8) seemed likely to at least make the third round. The Huskies went in 27-0 against teams seeded sixth or lower in the tournament; in 19 years under coach Jim Calhoun, they had been 23-2 in the first two rounds.

But UConn had lost two backup point guards, and outside ace Rashad Anderson returned to the lineup last week after battling a life-threatening illness brought on by a skin infection.

"For one of the few times in my coaching career, we ran out of gas," Calhoun said. "And North Carolina State was able to take advantage of that. You need bullets to win games, guys that can make plays, that are healthy enough to."

Hodge darted past Rudy 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 N.C. State past UConn. A foul on the shot made it a three-point play.

"He started clapping his hands and smiling," said Hodge, who finished with 17 points and six assists and shouted, "I told you so! I told you so!" at the buzzer.

The performance was a bit of a redemption for Hodge, who as a freshman three years ago in the tournament fouled UConn's Caron Butler in the final minute. Butler made three foul shots and Connecticut won by three.