SAN ANTONIO -- It was exactly what you would expect from Duke and Connecticut with a trip to the national championship game at stake.

In a game worthy of being an ESPN Classic, Connecticut survived Duke, 79-78, last night in the second semifinal at the Alamodome, rallying from a 75-67 deficit with 3:28 left by scoring 12 consecutive points before a meaningless 3-point shot by Duke's Chris Duhon at the buzzer.

Connecticut (32-6) will go for its second national championship in six years when it plays Georgia Tech tomorrow night. The Huskies lost to Georgia Tech, 77-61, at Madison Square Garden in November in a game when their big man and star last night, Emeka Okafor, was limited by back trouble.

"I always believed," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "Even when we were down eight points, I felt like we could and should win. That's how much I love and believe in this team."

Duke, which was playing in its 10th Final Four in 19 years, finished with a 31-6 record. The loss denied coach Mike Krzyzewski from matching former North Carolina coach Dean Smith's record of 65 NCAA tournament wins.

"This has been a great team," an emotional Krzyzewski said. "It's tough for it to end."

It looked as if Duke was going to advance and meet Georgia Tech in an all-Atlantic Coast Conference final when Duhon made two free throws to give the Blue Devils that 75-67 lead. But, like it did against Pitt in the Big East championship game when it came back from an 11-point deficit in the final 8:23, Connecticut fought back.

"It showed mental toughness," Connecticut guard Ben Gordon said. "A great team like Duke isn't going to lose. It's not going to give you the game. You've got to go out and beat them."

Rashad Anderson started the Connecticut comeback with a 3-point shot. Gordon made two free throws. Okafor hit a short jump shot. Okafor rebounded his own miss and scored a layup to put Connecticut ahead to stay, 76-75. Anderson hit two free throws with 11.6 seconds left. Okafor iced the win with a free throw for a 79-75 lead with 3.2 seconds to go.

"The key was our defense," Calhoun said. "We had six straight stops at the defensive end."

Said Krzyzewski, "We weren't able to make a play."

Duke's J.J. Redick, in particular, couldn't make a play. With Connecticut leading, 76-75, he was stripped by Okafor on his drive to the basket and lost the ball. Then, with Connecticut up, 78-75, he was well short on a 3-point shot.

Luol Deng led five Duke players in double figures with 16 points. He had 12 rebounds.

Okafor showed why he was the Big East Conference Player of the Year. He had all 18 of his points and his seven rebounds in the second half. He sat out the final 16:05 of the first half after getting two quick fouls.

"My first time in the Final Four and I didn't want to miss a minute," Okafor said. "I ended up having to miss 16. It was eating me up inside."

Krzyzewski wasn't any more pleased with the officiating. His two big men -- Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams -- picked up their fourth fouls in the first five minutes of the second half. Randolph had made all five of his shots and had 11 points when he sat down. Williams was Duke's best chance against Okafor.

"Our foul trouble made things difficult," Krzyzewski said. "It was a disruptive game with a lot of subs and a lot of fouls."

Connecticut won by shooting 62.5 percent in the second half. Calhoun thought that was an amazing statistic because of the toughness of the Duke defense.

"Duke just comes out and overplays you and takes you out of all your sets and everything you like to do. We hadn't seen that since Pittsburgh."

NOTES -- Connecticut outrebounded Duke, 44-37. Josh Boone led the Huskies with 14 rebounds ... Connecticut was uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball. It had 18 turnovers, leading to 23 points for Duke ... Connecticut jumped to an early 15-4 lead, but Duke got back in the game with a 15-1 run. Randolph had four baskets during that stretch.