Illinois no longer has the pressure of trying to complete college basketball's first perfect season since 1976.

The top-ranked Illini lost for the first time this season Sunday, falling to Ohio State 65-64. They are still the top seed for this week's Big Ten tournament and will almost certainly still be a No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament.

They just won't have that perfect season to worry about.

"Everyone says a loss will help. We'll find out," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "We'll learn from it and move on. This next stretch is the most important of the year, and that's what people are going to remember."

Illinois' loss was just one part of a wild Sunday for the teams at the top of the poll.

Second-ranked North Carolina needed a game-closing 11-0 run to beat No. 6 Duke 75-73. Florida beat No. 3 Kentucky 53-52, a loss that could cost the Wildcats a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Chris Paul hit a 12-foot runner at the buzzer to give No. 4 Wake Forest a 55-53 victory over North Carolina State.

That left the top four with a 2-2 mark in four games decided by a total of six points.

Ohio State's Matt Sylvester hit a 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left to cap a career-high 25-point effort that kept the Illini (29-1, 15-1) from the Big Ten's first unbeaten season since 1976, when Indiana went on to become the last perfect NCAA champion.

Illinois had a 12-point lead in the second half and didn't score over the final 3 minutes.

"We didn't take care of the ball and they made all the plays at the end," Illinois center Jack Ingram said. "They won it."

Ohio State (19-11, 8-8) was banned by its own administrators from the postseason two months ago to mitigate possible NCAA violations committed under former coach Jim O'Brien.

Thad Matta was chosen as O'Brien's replacement and he ruined a team's run at a perfect season for the second straight year.

Last March, Xavier handed top-ranked Saint Joseph's its first loss of the season in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

"I'd like to be the other team just one time," Matta said with a laugh. "I'm living for the day I'm the No. 1 team and someone else is trying to do it to us."

The last team to reach the NCAA tournament without a loss was UNLV in 1991.

"They just outplayed us," said Dee Brown, who led Illinois with 13 points. "They deserved it."

Freshman Marvin Williams converted a three-point play with 17 seconds left to cap the game-closing 11-0 run for the Tar Heels (26-3, 14-2), who won their first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship since 1993Sean May had 26 points and 24 rebounds to record his eighth straight double-double for North Carolina, which got its third win over Duke in the last 16 meetings.Shelden Williams had 25 points and six blocks for Duke (22-5, 11-5), while J.J. Redick scored all 17 of his points in the first half.

Anthony Roberson scored 21 points, including two free throws with 15 seconds remaining, and the Gators (20-7, 12-4 Southeastern Conference) ended an eight-game losing streak to Kentucky.The Wildcats (23-4, 14-2) still had a chance to win the road game, but Kelenna Azubuike's 3-pointer just before the buzzer bounced off the left side of the rim. Chuck Hayes had 20 points for Kentucky, the top seed in the SEC tournament.

Paul finished with nine points and six assists for the Demon Deacons (26-4, 13-3 ACC), who have won 10 of 11 games. Justin Gray added 15 points, including the tying 3-pointer to set up Paul's final shot.Paul also hit Wolfpack star Julius Hodge below the belt in the first half, a shot that led to speculation on whether Paul will be available for the Demon Deacons' next game.Ilian Evtimov scored 19 points to lead the Wolfpack (17-12, 7-9), who had several chances to win and improve their uncertain NCAA prospects.

Thomas Gardner matched his career best with 23 points and Linas Kleiza had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Tigers (15-15, 7-9), who snapped a four-game losing streak to Kansas.Wayne Simien had 17 points and eight rebounds for the visiting Jayhawks (22-5, 12-4), who were bumped to the second seed in this week's Big 12 tournament behind co-champion Oklahoma. Kansas' Keith Langford had five points in 3 minutes before re-injuring an ankle he hurt in practice last week. Langford is the Jayhawks' second-leading scorer at 15.1 points.

Adam Morrison had 25 points and a career-high eight assists to lead the Bulldogs (24-4) to the West Coast Conference championship game as they go for their sixth tournament title in seven years.Floyd North III had 16 points, and Nick Lewis added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Toreros (16-13).