ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Ohio State point guard Scoonie Penn's jersey was missing before last night's NCAA tournament semifinal game against Connecticut.

The feeling at Tropicana Field was that Ricky Moore had something to do with it.

Moore, whom Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun has called "the best defensive player I've ever had," took Penn right out of the game. As a result, the Huskies took the Buckeyes right out of the tournament.

Junior forward Richard Hamilton scored 24 points and sophomore point guard Khalid El-Amin finished with 18 points and six assists as Connecticut advanced to tomorrow night's championship game with a 64-58 victory at Tropicana Field.

But it was Moore, with only one basket, who got most of the credit. After dismantling Auburn and St. John's last week in the South Regional in Knoxville, Tenn., Penn made only three of 13 shots against Connecticut (33-2).

"I know Penn's a great offensive player," said Moore, who was familiar with his opponent from Penn's two years playing in the Big East at Boston College. "I knew he was going to attack me offensively. I wanted to make him take tough shots."

Said Penn, who finished with 11 points: "He paid a lot of attention to me all night. He didn't let me breathe."

Moore's defense proved contagious. Penn was not the only Buckeye to be suffocated by Connecticut's defense, particularly in the second half. Sophomore forward Michael Redd, Ohio State's leading scorer, scored a team-high 15 points but missed 11 of 18 shots.

"Tonight's game came down to their ability to guard us in the second half," said Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien, whose Buckeyes missed 25 of 33 shots they took in the half, including their first seven, 10 of their first 11 and 19 of their first 24. "We had a hard time scoring and a harder time stopping them in transition."

It helped the Huskies build a 10-point lead, 51-41, with 11: 42 remaining on a fast break started by Moore. Grabbing one of his team-high eight rebounds of a Penn miss in mid-air, Moore threw ahead to El-Amin, who immediately lofted a lob pass that reserve forward Rashamel Jones dunked in.

Still, Ohio State (27-9) had a chance for a comeback. Trailing 59-55 with 2: 50 remaining, it appeared as if Connecticut center Jake Voskuhl bobbled the ball, lost possession and then regained it before El-Amin called for a timeout with 2: 21 to go.

"I was so scared, Jake had the ball 30 feet out, I had to call a timeout," said El-Amin. "I had to get our momentum back."

Connecticut did. Instead of losing possession on a traveling call, the Huskies got it back. El-Amin missed a shot as the 35-second shot clock was about to expire, Voskuhl grabbed the rebound and Hamilton scored a leaning 12-foot jumper with 1: 42 remaining as the shot clock was about to expire again.

It wasn't the fact that Hamilton scored that bothered O'Brien, since the junior All-American would wind up hitting 10 of 17 shots. It was that Ohio State, desperately running out of time, had allowed Connecticut to hold onto the ball for a total of 71 seconds.

"I thought it was a critical point," said O'Brien, who lost for the 19th straight time to O'Brien. "Not only was the basket big, time was a factor. I thought it was a travel, but obviously they [the officials] didn't."

What was also crucial to Ohio State's chances was its free-throw shooting. The Buckeyes were able to escape with shaky shooting from the foul line against Auburn and St. John's, but they made only nine of 18 last night.

"That's been a big disappointment for us," said O'Brien. "In the end, the free-throw shooting really let us down."

The defeat didn't deter from a remarkable turnaround season for Ohio State, which finished 8-22 last season and won only once in 16 Big Ten games. The Buckeyes were the only team here that wasn't a top seed in their region, having been seeded fourth.

Asked what he told his players in the locker room, O'Brien said: "I told them not to lose sight of the big picture. Obviously it's a disappointment, but I'm very focused on the big picture."

Connecticut, which reached the Elite 8 three times this decade before finally making the school's first Final Four, is focused on something else: the big trophy. The Huskies will play heavy favorite Duke in tomorrow night's championship game.

"We're happy to be here. We're happy to be going to the championship game," said Calhoun. "I think we have a better basketball game in us. Hopefully, it's Monday night."

Much will depend on Hamilton's ability to score, El-Amin's talents as a floor leader and Connecticut's defense stopping Duke's balanced offense. Again it will start with Moore, a 6-foot-2 senior who'll be matched up against William Avery, his former high school teammate from Augusta, Ga.

Moore was asked to rate his performance last night.

"I thought I played pretty well," he said. "I really got the ball to Khalid and Rip [Hamilton] and they finished making plays. My overall performance in the game was an A."

Especially on D.

Somebody might want to check Moore's hotel room here for a certain scarlet jersey.