Colorado
9-9,0-7Big 12
BYU
12-6,3-4Big 12
Buffs Fall to BYU
January 21, 2025 | Men's Basketball
BOULDER – After a back-and-forth first half, Colorado couldn't keep up with BYU in the final 20 minutes, leading to a Cougars 83-67 win over the Buffaloes Tuesday night in the CU Events Center.
Colorado drops its seventh game in a row, falling to 9-9 overall and 0-7 in the Big 12. It marks the first time the Buffaloes have lost seven consecutive contests since 2016-17, when they started the Pac-12 Conference schedule 0-7.
"Their energy level, their toughness, their everything, you name it, they were the aggressor," head coach Tad Boyle said. "They were better. And it wasn't just one guy. It was the their whole team. This doesn't fall on one guy for the Buffaloes. I mean, if it did, I'd fix that. It falls on our entire group."
Colorado trailed by a single bucket to end a competitive first half, 38-36, but it was all BYU in the second half. The Cougars opened the second period with a 23-2 run, leading by as many as 23 at one point.
After starting the game 11-for-15 from the floor, the Buffs shot 0-for-16 as a unit from the 6:23 mark in the first half to 12:39 in the second half.
Julian Hammond III led CU with 17 points on an efficient 3-for-6 from the perimeter. Harrison Carrington had seven points, three rebounds, and two assists.
Richie Saunders led BYU with 25 points on 10-for-15 overall from the field.
Colorado shot 11-for-22 (50%) overall as a team in the first half, but struggled finding the back of the net in the second half, shooting 10-for-24 (41.7%).
HOW IT HAPPENED
BYU nabbed the first points of the game on a baseline layup. The Buffs answered back with a pair of Hammond scores and an Andrej Jakimovski bucket down low, heading into the first media break at 15:38 with a 6-4 lead.
The Buffs committed five turnovers in the first five minutes, opening the door for the Cougars to build a four-point lead, 17-13, at the 12:25 mark. Javon Ruffin drilled his second three of the game to cut the deficit to one, only for Saunders to respond back with a three of his own for BYU.
Trailing by four, 22-18, with 9:53 remaining, the Buffs went on a 14-0 run to re-capture the lead. Jakimovski gave the Buffaloes the lead with a basket. Hammond extended the CU lead to four with a shot from deep. Hammond scored seven-straight points, including a pair of free throws. Assane Diop added two foul shots as the Buffaloes led 32-22 with 5:54 left in the half.
Three consecutive buckets from Saunders cut the Buffs lead to three, 32-29, with 3:36 left in the period. BYU would continue their run with the next four points, an 11-0 run, to reclaim their lead 33-32 with just over two minutes left in the half. Trading buckets to end the half, the Cougars headed to the break with a 38-36 advantage.
A pair of 3-pointers from Trevin Knell and Saunders propelled BYU to a 9-1 run to start the second half, giving them a 47-37 lead with 17:41 left in the contest. The Cougars would then go on a 14-1 run, giving them a 61-38 lead, a 23-2 run to start the second half.
Colorado would end the game outscoring the Cougars 29-22 in the final 12:39 minutes of regulation, but it wouldn't be nearly enough as the Buffs fell by a score of 83-67.
DECISIVE MOMENT
The Buffs had the whole game in front of them headed into the second half, but BYU caught fire right away, going on a 23-2 run, a lead the Buffs were not able to overcome.
WHAT IT MEANS
Tad Boyle and his Buffaloes dropped their seventh straight for the first time in nine years, still searching for their first Big 12 conference win of the season.
UP NEXT
Colorado will look to get back in the win column on the road Saturday, when they will face off against Arizona in Tucson at 1 p.m. MT.
