The regular-season league champions and defending tournament champs will play in a record-tying third straight championship game Sunday against sixth-seeded Penn State. Illinois also played in three consecutive title games from 2003-05.
Jon Diebler scored 16 points and William Buford had 14 for the Buckeyes (31-2). They have won six straight games overall and all three matchups this season with Michigan (20-13).
The Wolverines were led by Darius Morris with 16 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. with 15.
Michigan got as close as 47-45 with 9:51 left, but the Buckeyes answered with 16 straight points and held off a late charge that got the Wolverines within four in the final minute.
No. 2 Kansas 85 No. 10 Texas 73: In Kansas City, Missouri, Tyshawn Taylor and Marcus Morris sparked a quick start and Kansas raced past Texas in the Big 12 title game, avenging one of the saddest losses the Jayhawks have experienced in years.
Jordan Hamilton had 21 points for second-seeded Texas (27-7), which beat Kansas 74-63 and snapped the Jayhawks’ team-record 69-game home court winning streak on a melancholy afternoon in January.
The night before, the mother of sophomore forward Thomas Robinson had died unexpectedly. Players and coaches were up most of night trying to comfort the grieving young man, who had also lost both grandparents a few weeks earlier and was now left virtually alone with his 7-year-old sister back in Washington, D.C.
Marcus Morris, who stood next to Robinson during the national anthem that day and wept, had 17 points Saturday as the top-seeded Jayhawks (32-2) beat the Longhorns in the Big 12 title game for the fourth time in four tries and wrapped up a nearly certain No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
No. 5 Duke 77 Virginia Tech 63: Nolan Smith scored 27 points and Duke claimed a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game by beating Virginia Tech in the semifinals.
Kyle Singler added 13 points and 11 rebounds and Seth Curry had 10 points for the second-seeded Blue Devils (29-4).
The two-time defending tournament champions and reigning national champs avenged a late-season loss and set up a third meeting with bitter rival North Carolina in the title game Sunday.
The status of Smith, the ACC player of the year, was in question until a few minutes before tipoff because he injured the second toe on his left foot late in Duke’s victory the night before against Maryland.
No. 6 North Carolina 92 Clemson 87, OT: In Greensboro, North Carolina, freshman phenom Harrison Barnes had a season-high 40 points as North Carolina escaped again at the ACC tournament, rallying past Clemson in overtime.
Barnes hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:13 left as part of a 9-0 spurt to open the extra period, which helped the top-seeded Tar Heels (26-6) complete their second straight comeback from a big deficit. A day after rallying from 19 down in the second half to beat Miami, the Tar Heels trailed the Tigers (21-11) by 14 in the first half and rallied from seven down in the final 4 minutes of regulation to force overtime.
No. 7 San Diego State 72 No. 8 BYU 54: In Las Vegas, Billy White put on an offensive display and bedeviled national scoring leader Jimmer Fredette in leading San Diego State past BYU for the Mountain West Conference title.
White had 21 points, 12 rebounds and five steals and Kawhi Leonard pitched in 20 points and eight boards.
Second-seeded San Diego State (32-2), whose only two losses were against the Cougars (30-4), finally figured out how to topple top-seeded BYU, which was playing its fifth game without star sophomore
No. 12 Florida 77 Vanderbilt 66: In Atlanta, Kenny Boynton scored 24 points, Erving Walker added 17 and Florida recovered from another slow start to beat Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference semifinals.
The Gators (26-6) matched their biggest comeback of the season, overcoming a 12-point deficit early in the second half. They will meet Kentucky in the championship game Sunday.
Florida beat the Commodores (23-10) at their 3-point game. Boynton hit five shots beyond the arc, Walker made three and the Gators finished 11 of 21 overall.
No. 21 Connecticut 69 No. 14 Louisville 66: Kemba Walker capped the best five days an individual and team may have ever had in college basketball, scoring 19 points to lead UConn to the Big East championship.
Walker, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, took home the most obvious MVP award in any conference tournament after leading the ninth-seeded Huskies (26-9) to five wins in as many days — the last four over teams ranked in the Top 25 — and the program’s seventh conference title, tying Georgetown for the most in Big East history.
He finished the five games with 130 points, 46 more than the previous record. He also grabbed so many big rebounds, made so many key passes and clutch steals, all the while exhibiting leadership good enough to take a team loaded with sophomores and freshmen to the championship.
No. 15 Kentucky 72 Alabama 58: In Atlanta, Brandon Knight finally got rolling at the Southeastern Conference tournament and Kentucky looked like a young team peaking at just the right time with a semifinal victory over Alabama.
Knight scored 10 straight points to blow it open for the Wildcats (24-8), who have won seven out of eight with their three freshman starters.
Kentucky raced to a 37-21 halftime lead, even with Knight missing all four of his shots. Alabama (21-11) scored two quick baskets to start the second half before the freshman guard put an end to any thought of another big comeback by the Crimson Tide.
Washington 77 No. 16 Arizona 75, OT: Isaiah Thomas hit a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer, lifting Washington over Arizona for the Pac-10 tournament championship in the first overtime title game in league history.
Thomas scored 19 of his 28 points in the first half, and freshman Terrence Ross added 16 for the third-seeded Huskies (23-10), who successfully defended their title and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
No. 23 Utah State 77 Boise State 69: Tai Wesley scored 19 points after a quiet start and Utah State earned its second straight trip to the NCAA tournament with a win in the Western Athletic Conference championship game.
Utah State (30-3) was solid throughout in its fifth WAC title game in six years, getting big contributions from Brian Green (12 points) and Nate Bendall (16 points) at the start of each half.
Wesley took over down the stretch, scoring nine points in the final 5 minutes to help the Aggies match a school record for wins and set off a wild celebration with the student section at midcourt.
Richmond 58 No. 24 Temple 54: In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Kevin Anderson scored 22 points and Richmond beat three-time defending champion Temple in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.
Justin Harper added 18 points and nine rebounds as the third-seeded Spiders (26-7) avenged a loss to the No. 24-ranked Owls (25-7) in last year’s title game and a 20-point loss earlier this season.
Khalif Wyatt had 15 points and Lavoy Allen added 12 points and 10 rebounds for second-seeded Temple, which had a string of 10 tournament victories at Boardwalk Hall snapped.
