Buffs Roll Past Alabama State, Improve To 4-0

Monday, November 17

Boulder, Colo.

7 p.m.

Colorado

4-0,0-0Big 12

Alabama State

2-2,0-0SWAC

Alabama St.

Colorado

November 17, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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By: Aiden Tank, Athletic Communications

BOULDER – Colorado took care of business Monday night as the Buffaloes rolled past Alabama State, 94-66 at the CU Events Center.

Tad Boyle's Buffs improved to 4-0 with the win, while the Hornets dropped to 2-2.

Leading 11-8, Colorado broke the game open with a 23-3 run that spanned over nine minutes of game time. The Buffs built as much as a 29-point lead in the first half and led by as much as 15 the rest of the way.

Junior Bangot Dak led the way for Colorado by filling the stat sheet. He finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and two steals as well as setting a new career-high in free throws made, shooting 8 of 9. Sophomore Sebastian Rancik added 14 points and five rebounds while also knocking down 10 of 10 from the line.

"I feel like the past couple of games we had, I haven't been showing my effort, besides the first game," Dak said. "I've been struggling offensively, so if I get myself going defensively, I can get myself going offensively. So that helped me tonight."

The freshmen trio of Isaiah Johnson, Alon Michaeli, and Josiah Sanders each put in 10 points off the bench.

Asjon Anderson led the Hornets with 15 points.

Colorado finished with a season-best 20 assists while shooting 30-for-56 from the field (53.6 percent), including 6-for-16 from long range. The Buffs also had a 46-33 edge on the boards while holding the Hornets to 36 percent shooting (24-for-67).

"We knew we had to be on point defensively," Boyle commented. "I thought in the first half our defense was terrific. We made some strides in that area. We got a little complacent on defense in that second half and gave up 44 points. There's some things to build on, and that's the one thing you want to do. We were able to play a lot of guys which I was hoping that we could. We have to build some depth here in November, because you never know what's going to happen as this season rolls on. A good win with 20 assists, 11 turnovers. Really good numbers for this group offensively. I thought we really shared the ball extremely well tonight. That's the thing I was most pleased with."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Dak got the Buffs out of the gates strong, scoring the first six points with four coming from the foul line. A driving layup and a 3-pointer by Felix Kossaras gave Colorado a 13-8 lead and 100% from the field at the first timeout.

Colorado used a suffocating defense to fuel an extended 17-1 run that saw six different Buffs score, including shots from deep by Kossaras, Johnson and Barrington Hargress, and assists on five of the first six made shots.

Defense continued to ramp up for the Buffs, forcing Alabama State into misses on 15-of-16 shots after they opened making three of the first four shots of the game to continue extending the lead to 32-11 with 7:21 left in the first half.

At the offensive end, the ball was moving and getting into everyone's hands. Ten different Buffs scored in the first half, with assists coming on 11 of 14 made shots. CU used six Hornet turnovers and turned them into 16 fast break points to build a 46-22 lead. On the flip side Alabama State only converted three fast break points in the opening 20 minutes.

After holding Alabama State to only two 3-pointers in the first half, they made six in the first 12 minutes of the second half to begin to cut into the lead. Colorado used the free throw line to keep them at bay, making 10-of-12 to keep a 68-51 lead with 7:54 remaining.

Despite a shaky start to the second half, the Buffs got back to work and pushed the lead back up to 29 with 3:45 left and rode it the rest of the way.

UP NEXT
The Buffs close out their season-opening five-game homestand on Friday at 7:00 p.m. against UC Davis at the CU Events Center (ESPN+).