Kansas beats out Ohio State (Kansas: 64-62)

Ohio State came out with one of its fastest starts in the tournament against its most difficult opponent yet, but the team’s efforts were not enough; Kansas rallied back for a 64-62 win.

Ohio State was up by as much as a dozen points during the first half, as they outplayed the Jayhawks on both ends of the court. But the tide was obviously in favor of Kansas in the third and fourth quarters. The Buckeyes made no three pointers in the first seven minutes of the second half, leaving them vulnerable to Kansas’ offense.

A huge blow to the Ohio State offense came at the loss of Deshaun Thomas, who was taken out of the game after his third personal foul.

Thomas Robinson had 19 points for the Jayhawks as they advanced to the Finals. The last time the team made it this far was in 2008 when it defeated Memphis.

Final Four: Louisville falls to Kentucky (Kentucky: 69-61)

Kentucky defeated fourth seed Louisville 69-61 to advance to the finals for the first time since 1998. Kentucky came out of the gate hard, took the lead immediately and never gave it up. Although Louisville was able to tie the game at one point, it was never enough as it began to ease up the pressure and Kentucky began to capitalize.

Louisville was especially weak in the paint as it gave up twenty first-half points from inside. This marked the most points scored from the paint in the entire tournament. The stagnating defense of Louisville in the first half haunted them later as they tried to make a run for the comeback. The points that could have been saved in the first ended up putting Kentucky out of reach, sealing their win. Darius Miller was the star of Kentucky scoring 13 points, most of which happened after Louisville tied the game, as Kentucky made its final push to close out the game.