Kansas State 70, Southern Mississippi 64: Rodney McGruder had 17 of his game-high 30 points in the first half to lead the Wildcats to a victory over Southern Mississippi in the NCAA tournament’s Round of 64 in Pittsburgh.

Jordan Henriquez finished with 15 points and nine rebounds and Angel Rodriguez added 13 points for No. 8 seed Kansas State (22-10), which won its fourth straight opening-round game and will advance to play either No. 1 seed Syracuse or 16-seed UNC-Asheville on Saturday.

Southern Miss (25-9), making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1991 and just its third in program history, led by as many as five points in the second half but crumbled late, misfiring on 10 of 11 shots at one point.

The Wildcats, who shot 50 percent from the field and made 26-of-34 free-throw attempts, used an 18-6 run to take a 58-51 lead with 4:30 left.

But Neil Watson, who had a team-high 16 points, and Darnell Dodson, who added 14 points and 11 rebounds, brought the Golden Eagles back. Dodson scored six straight points — including a two-handed dunk with 2:32 left — to close the deficit to 62-59.

Rodriguez, though, responded with an inside shot on the other end to extend the K-State lead to five, and the Wildcats closed out the victory from the free-throw line, making 6-of-8 attempts in the final minute.

Behind McGruder, who made six of his first 11 shots, the Wildcats took a 30-27 halftime lead. They led by as many as seven points in the opening minutes.

LaShay Page finished with 15 points for the Golden Eagles, who finished second in the Conference USA regular-season standings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Kansas State improved to 5-2 against C-USA opponents in the NCAA tournament … The Wildcats are one win away from advancing to the Sweet 16 for the 17th time in program history … All nine of Southern Miss’ losses came on the road or in neutral site games … Golden Eagles head coach Larry Eustachy fell to 3-3 all-time in the NCAA tournament.