First Ever Meeting With UC Davis Friday

Friday, November 21

Boulder, Colo.

7 p.m.

Colorado

UC Davis

Tickets From $18 - $73

Felix Kossaras

Photo by: Tony Harman

November 20, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Colorado Notes Buy Tickets Donate

By: Troy Andre, Associate Director/Athletic Communications

Game 5 - UC Davis, Friday, November 21, 2025
CU Events Center, Boulder, Colo.
Tip: 7:01 p.m. MT
Watch: ESPN+ (Mark Johnson, Scott Wilke) https://buffs.me/3XE90ho
Radio: KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM (Jerry Schemmel)
Listen Online: Sirius XM 387, SXM App 977
Live Statistics: http://statb.us/b/611124

THE BUFFALOES: Colorado is 4-0 for the third straight season following its 94-66 win over Alabama State on Nov. 17. The Buffaloes will complete their season-opening five-game home stand against UC Davis, looking to begin 5-0 for the first time since 2019-20.

Colorado's offense has been clicking, averaging 94.3 points per game ranking second in the Big 12 Conference and 21st in the nation. The Buffaloes are hitting 51.9 percent from the field, which is third in the Big 12 and 27th in the country.

Colorado has scored at least 90 points in the last three games and has started the season with four games scoring at least 80 points. It's the first time the Buffaloes have scored at least 90 in three straight since the 2023-24 team did it four times in mid December that season. It's the first time scoring four-straight in the 80s to begin a season since 1985-86 when that Buffaloes' squad started with four wins at home.

Colorado shot a season-high 53.6 percent from the field against Alabama State, marking the first time since 2009-10 the Buffaloes have shot at least 50 percent in four-straight games to open the season. The percentage against Alabama State was the team's best since shooting 56.6 percent against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 13, 2024. Colorado is 120-11 since 2010-11, the Tad Boyle era, when shooting at least 50 percent.

The Buffaloes have also gotten to the free throw line in bunches. Colorado's 26.3 free throws made and 35.3 attempts per game rank third on the early-season NCAA Division I leaderboard. The Buffaloes trail only South Florida (27.4) and Maryland (26.6) in free throws made and South Florida (36.0) and USC (35.7) in attempts per game.

Percentage wise, Colorado started slow from the line, but has bounced back strong in the last two outings. After shooting 69.2 percent over the first two contests (54 of 78) the Buffaloes have sank 51 of their last 63 (.810) to climb to 74.5 percent for the season. Against Providence, Colorado was 23 of 27 (.852) from the line, making 17 of 18 in the second half (.944), including 15 of 16 in the final four minutes of the game.

SCORING BALANCE: Colorado has had at least four players score in double figures in each of its four games and two of those contests, Montana State and Alabama State, the Buffaloes had five with at least 10 points.

Colorado had only four games with four players scoring in double figures in 35 contests last year (3-1 record) and none with five. Prior to this season, the NCAA Tournament win over Florida on March 22, 2024 was the last instance of five double-digit scorers.

The Buffaloes have had a different leading scorer in each of its first four games. Freshman Isaiah Johnson led the way against Montana State with 24 points. Sophomore Sebastian Rancik equaled that output against Eastern Washington. Freshman Alon Michaeli had 20 points to lead the way against Providence and Junior Bangot Dak scored a season-best 16 against Alabama State.

BENCH STRENGTH: Colorado is averaging 40.3 points per game from its bench accounting for nearly half of the team's scoring through four contests (42.7 percent). The Buffaloes' reserves are shooting 53.1 percent from the field and 70.3 percent from the free throw line while also pitching in 13.5 rebounds per game.

Colorado's 40.3 bench points per game leads the Big 12 and ranks 17th in NCAA Division I.

The bench has accounted for the leading scorer twice, Isaiah Johnson vs. Montana State and Alon Michaeli vs. Providence.

HARGRESS DISHING: Junior Barrington Hargress dished out a career-high 11 assists in the win over Providence. He had a 10-assist game with UC Riverside against Montana State on Dec. 18, 2024. Hargress pitched in 15 points to record his second career collegiate double-double. He scored 22 points along with his 10 assists last year against Montana State.

Hargress is averaging 4.8 assists per game, leading the Buffaloes and ranking 13th in the Big 12. He has just five turnovers on the season, with his 3.8 assist-to-turnover ratio ranking seventh in the conference. Hargress turned the ball over just once against Providence.

SEBI'S CAREER NIGHT: Sophomore Sebastian Rancik scored a career-high 24 points and dished out a personal-best four assists in the win over Eastern Washington. He hit 11 of 12 from the free throw line, both career highs.

Rancik recorded his first career 20-point game and led the Buffaloes in scoring for the fourth time in his career. He had three 3-pointers, his third career game with multiple 3-point field goals, just one off his personal best of four, which came in last year's game with Eastern Washington, in his collegiate debut. His 11 free throws made are the most by a Buff since KJ Simpson had 13 against Washington State on Dec. 31, 2023.

JOHNSON'S MONSTER DEBUT: Isaiah Johnson's 24 points against Montana State marked the second-most by a Colorado freshman in a debut. Johnson made 6 of 9 from the field, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, while hitting 10 of 12 free throw attempts.

The record for a CU freshman debut is 31 points by Emmett Lewis, who had 31 against New Mexico on Nov. 29, 1975. Lewis would go on to become the first of seven Buffs to ever lead the team in scoring for a season, averaging 15.0 in 1975-76.

Overall, his 24 points ties for the 13th best single-game total by a Colorado freshman. The last to reach that mark was current Philadelphia 76ers forward Jabari Walker, who scored 24 against Georgetown in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

All 24 of Johnson's points came in the second half, the most in any one half by a Colorado freshman. Overall his 24 points in one half ties for the 12th-best mark by a Buff, regardless of class.

MALONE'S IMPRESSIVE LINE: Graduate center Elijah Malone filled up the stat line nicely against Montana State finishing with 10 points and a trio of CU personal-bests with 13 rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Through the first two weeks of the season, he is the only player in NCAA Division I basketball to have a game with double-figure points and rebounds, five assists and four steals.

The double-double was his second as a Buffalo, and actually is second in a row as he finished off the 2024-25 season with a 17-point, 10-rebound performance against Villanova in the College Basketball Crown Tournament. Overall it's the 28th double-double of his collegiate career (26 at Grace).

Malone's 13 rebounds are his best at Colorado and fifth overall; he had 17 with Grace against Cornerstone on Dec. 30, 2021. His four steals are a career-high, both CU and Grace. Malone's five assists are one off his Grace best, as he dished out six at Taylor (Ind.) on Feb. 13, 2021.

NONCONFERENCE NUMBERS: Colorado is 140-41 (.773) in nonconference regular season games under head coach Tad Boyle including a 93-24 mark (.795) since the beginning of the 2014-15 season.

Colorado is 108-8 (.931) in nonconference home games under Boyle, a record which includes a 7-2 mark in postseason action.

ABOUT THE AGGIES: UC Davis is 4-1 overall having won its last two and coming off a solid 75-71 road win at Nevada on Nov. 18. The Aggies are averaging 78.2 points, shooting 46.6 percent from the field. Defensively, UC Davis allows 69.6 points on 40.5 percent shooting. The Aggies top the Big West Conference and are a top 100 team nationally in steals (9.2) and turnovers forced (16.8) per game.

Junior guard Nils Cooper leads UC Davis at 18.5 points and 2.8 steals per game while hitting 68.4 percent from the field, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range. Cooper played against Colorado in 2023-24 with Pepperdine, scoring 10 points with five rebounds and three blocks in the 91-66 Buffaloes' win. Junior guard Connor Sevilla is averaging 17.0 points, shooting 55.3 percent overall and 88.9 percent from the line. Graduate forward Niko Rocak leads the Aggies in rebounds (5.8 rpg) and blocks (14) while pitching in 7.8 points per game.

THE SERIES: This will be the first meeting between Colorado and UC Davis.