No. 2 Kansas State vs. No. 7 Texas final score: Wildcats smother Longhorns, move on to Big 12 semis

The Kansas State Wildcats took care of business Thursday, routing the Texas Longhorns, 66-49, in the Big 12 quarterfinals.

The Wildcats actually had a somewhat slow start, as Texas started the game on a 7-1 run. KSU quickly woke up, however, and went into halftime leading 34-28. The Longhorns only managed to shoot 2 of 8 three-pointers in the first half.

Kansas State poured it on in the second half, racking up a 17-4 run go to up 56-38 with 8:49 left in the game. Texas was never able to recover from that onslaught, being outscored 32-21 in the second half. The Longhorns shot only 34 percent from the field, compared to 41.5 percent for Kansas State.

Rodney McGruder was the box score hero of the day, racking up 24 points and seven rebounds. Angel Rodriguez was the runner-up with 13 points and had five assists to pace the Wildcats. As for the Longhorns, Julien Lewis came off the bench to score 13 points. The big disappointment was Myck Kabongo -- after a big game against TCU in the first round, the sophomore was held without any points. He did manage seven assists and five rebounds.

Kansas State will go on to face either Oklahoma State or Baylor on Friday. They will know their semifinal opponent later on Thursday night.

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