Big Ten Tournament: It’s Michigan vs. Wisconsin and Purdue vs. UCLA in semifinals after wild Friday in Chicago

Aday Mara scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, helping No. 3 Michigan hold off Bruce Thornton and Ohio State for a 71-67 victory Friday in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal at the United Center.

Elliot Cadeau had 15 points, seven assists and three steals for Michigan in its fifth consecutive win. Trey McKenney scored 12 points, and Morez Johnson Jr. finished with 11.

Mara anchored a strong defensive effort that shut down Ohio State in the final minutes. It was the first game of the tournament for the top-seeded Wolverines (30-2), while the Buckeyes (21-12) advanced with a 72-69 victory over Iowa on Thursday.

Michigan is going for its second straight Big Ten Tournament title and fifth overall. It will face No. 23 Wisconsin on Saturday after the Badgers rallied for a 91-88 overtime win over No. 9 Illinois in the second quarterfinal. Michigan lost to Wisconsin 91-88 on Jan. 10

Thornton scored 22 points for Ohio State, and Devin Royal had 13 points and 11 rebounds. It was the Buckeyes’ third loss of the season to the Wolverines.

Ohio State grabbed its first lead of the game when Royal’s 3-pointer from the top of the key made it 61-60 with 5:40 left.

Mara’s layup lifted Michigan to a 67-64 advantage with 2:56 to play. Royal and Thornton then missed jumpers for Ohio State before Yaxel Lendeborg made a free throw for the Wolverines with 1:24 remaining.

The Buckeyes pulled within two on Royal’s two foul shots in the final seconds, but Lendeborg responded with two free throws to help close it out.

Lendeborg, the Big Ten Player of the Year, was held to six points. But he also had six assists and five rebounds.

Michigan opened a 29-18 lead on Lendeborg’s fast-break jam over Ohio State’s Christoph Tilly with 6:25 left in the first half, sending a charge through the crowd at the United Center. But Thornton converted a runner in the final seconds, trimming the Wolverines’ advantage to 39-35 at the break.

Wisconsin 91, Illinois 88 (OT)

Illinois’ Big Ten Tournament run began and ended Friday at the United Center.

Fifth-seeded Wisconsin topped the fourth-seeded Illini 91-88 in overtime behind a combined 69 points from guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd to advance to Saturday’s semifinal against top-seeded Michigan.

Illinois, which had received a triple bye into the tournament’s quarterfinals on the fourth day, heads back to Champaign to await its NCAA Tournament seeding Sunday. It was Illinois’ second overtime loss to Wisconsin this season.

Keaton Wagler led Illinois with 19 points and eight assists, while fellow Illinois freshman David Mirković had 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Illinois led by as many as 15 points midway through the second half but had trouble getting a defensive stop against the Badgers to let them back in the game. Read more here.

UCLA 88, Michigan State 84

Donovan Dent had 23 points and 12 assists, Trent Perry added 22 points and UCLA held off No. 8 Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday night despite losing star Tyler Bilodeau to a leg injury.

Bilodeau had to be helped off the court late in the first half and spent the second on the sideline with his right knee wrapped. The Bruins led by 15 early in the second half and withstood several big pushes down the stretch to advance to a semifinal matchup with No. 18 Purdue, which beat No. 11 Nebraska 74-58.

They were clinging to an 82-80 lead when Brandon Williams scored on a fast-break layup to make it a four-point game with 25 seconds remaining. Carson Cooper made a layup for Michigan State with 12 seconds left. UCLA’s Trent Perry immediately answered with two free throws.

Jeremy Fears Jr. then drove for a layup to cut it to 86-84 with six seconds remaining. But Perry sealed the win with two free throws.

Bilodeau went down clutching his right knee when his leg buckled as he tried to defend Cooper in the post. The noncontact injury happened away from the ball with 3:33 remaining and the Bruins leading 35-23.

The team’s leading scorer and rebounder, Bilodeau made both his shots and had five points in 10 minutes.

Fears had 21 points and 13 assists for the Spartans (25-7). Cooper and Kur Teng scored 13 apiece.

UCLA beat Purdue 69-67 on Jan. 20 at Pauley Pavilion when Bilodeau hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with eight seconds to play

Purdue 74, Nebraska 58

Fletcher Loyer scored 19 points, Braden Smith collected 10 more assists and No. 18 Purdue beat No. 11 Nebraska 74-58 on Friday night in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal.

C.J. Cox and Oscar Cluff each had 12 points for the Boilermakers, and Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Smith set a Big Ten Tournament record and matched a career high with 16 assists in an 81-68 victory over Northwestern on Thursday. The senior guard needs 22 assists to break Bobby Hurley’s NCAA record of 1,076 in 140 games for Duke from 1989-93.

Purdue (25-8) advanced to the Big Ten semifinals for the fourth time in five years, bouncing back nicely after closing the regular season with four losses in six games. It will play UCLA on Saturday.

Pryce Sandford scored 15 points for Nebraska, which dropped to 6-14 all time in the Big Ten Tournament. Rienk Mast finished with 11.

The Cornhuskers (26-6) went 10-for-31 from 3-point range and 12-for-25 from inside the arc.