Bruce Weber's No. 16 Kansas State Wildcats hunkered down defensively and beat the Oklahoma Sooners, forcing 16 turnovers in a 67-58 win -- Oklahoma's first loss in conference play.
No. 16 Kansas State vs. Oklahoma final score: McGruder leads Wildcats in win
The Kansas State Wildcats hit went 7-of-13 from three-point range to build a decent lead in the first half, remaining undefeated in conference play while handing Oklahoma its first Big 12 loss.
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Kansas State shot their way into the lead: the Wildcats, typically one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country were actually being dominated on the boards by Oklahoma, at one point having just nine rebounds to Oklahoma's 18. But they hit seven of 13 three-point attempts -- three by Rodney McGruder - to enter the half with a 35-27 lead.
That shooting wouldn't hold up, but Kansas State's lead would: Oklahoma would cut the lead to six at one point on a Steven Pledger three, but Will Spradling answered at the other end and the Sooners never really threatened again.
Macgruder led the way, finishing with 18. Angel Rodriguez couldn't get his scoring game going, starting out 1-for-10 from the field, but he was key to setting up open shooters, finishing with eight assists. On the other side of the ball, Oklahoma shot itself in the foot in a lot of ways: they just didn't have much of a shooting day with only three made three-pointers, finished with more turnovers than assists and only hit five free throws on 12 attempts. Buddy Hield, a 6-foot-3 freshman from the Bahamas, somehow ended up with 10 boards, but he missed every three he took and ended up with only eight points.
Next up for Kansas State is a huge rivalry matchup with No. 4 Kansas on Tuesday. The Wildcats have still only lost to Gonzaga and Michigan, both currently ranked in the Top 10.
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