No. 9 Ohio State 71, Nebraska 50: Deshaun Thomas had 19 points and nine rebounds and Sam Thompson added 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting as the Buckeyes routed the Cornhuskers in the Big Ten quarterfinals at Chicago.

LaQuinton Ross scored 11 points for second-seeded Ohio State (24-7), which blew the game open with a 30-5 run. The Buckeyes will face Michigan State in Saturday’s semifinals.

Brandon Ubel scored 16 points and Shavon Shields added 14 for 10th-seeded Nebraska (15-18).

Ohio State led 24-23 with 1:38 left in the first half before scoring 15 straight points to start the gamebreaking surge. Thompson scored seven points in the first four minutes of the second half to help the lead reach 16, and a dunk by Thomas ended the spurt to give the Buckeyes a 54-28 edge with 12:01 to play.

The Cornhuskers started strong and led 15-6 with 13:03 left in the first half. Ohio State answered with 12 straight points and led 28-23 at the break.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Ohio State had 20 assists on 26 field goals. PG Aaron Craft's eight assists led the way. … Nebraska leading scorers Dylan Talley (seven points) and Ray Gallegos (six) were a combined 5-for-22 shooting. … The Buckeyes shot 59.1 percent and were 9-of-17 from 3-point range.