Buffs Improve To 6-0 With Win Over San Francisco

Thursday, November 27

Palm Desert, Calif.

12 p.m.

Colorado

6-0,0-0Big 12

San Francisco

5-2,0-0WCC

San Francisco

Colorado

Bangot Dak

November 27, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Stats Highlights

By: Troy Andre, Associate Director/Athletic Communications

PALM DESERT, Calif. – Colorado kept its season-opening winning streak alive with a 79-69 decision over San Francisco in the first game of the Acrisure Holiday Classic Thursday afternoon at the Acrisure Arena.

Colorado improves to 6-0, its best start since the 2019-20 team won its first seven games. San Francisco sees its own four-game winning streak snapped, dropping to 5-2. The Buffaloes will take on old Pac-12 Conference rival Washington in the championship game on Friday, Nov. 28, at 2:30 p.m. MT. The Huskies defeated Nevada 83-66 in their opening game on Thursday.

Colorado continued its season-long trend of balanced scoring as four Buffaloes scored in double figures. Freshman Isaiah Johnson led the way with 17 points off the bench. Barrington Hargress had 15 points on 6 of 11 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. Bangot Dak and Elijah Malone both had 13 points.

Junjie Wang and Ryan Beasley both scored 13 to lead San Francisco.

Colorado's high-powered offense had its lowest scoring output of the season, but it was still a strong 79-point effort in its first game away from home. The Buffaloes shot 47.8 percent from the field, but weren't able to get to the foul line often, with only eight attempts, making five.

Colorado found other ways to win. While it wasn't a perfect performance on the defensive end, the energy and effort was there. The Buffaloes forced 13 turnovers, while committing only seven of their own, and outscoring the Dons 18-7 off of miscues.

"I saw it in practice (Wednesday)," Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. "The defensive segment was spirited; guys were dialed in. I see it in practice and then I see it during the game. We're still not where we want or need to be, but we're getting there."

Similar to other games this season, it was close throughout, and the Buffaloes pulled away at the end. San Francisco held a two-point lead at the half, 37-35. Coming out of the break, Colorado went to Malone early and often. He scored seven points of his 13 points in the first three minutes, which gave the Buffaloes the lead back at 44-43.

San Francisco kept it tight, hitting 6 of their first 10 shots of the half. Mookie Cook gave the Dons their final lead of the game on a turnaround jumper at 12:53 for a 51-49 advantage. Josiah Sanders answered by tying the game on a second-chance opportunity. Following a Dak block on the other end, Johnson sprinted the length of the floor for a transition layup to give Colorado the lead for good.

Johnson scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half and helped the Buffaloes build from that point on. He made several tough shots in the paint, including an and-one that gave the Buffaloes a 54-51 lead. Colorado pushed the lead to six when Sanders made another driving layup and Felix Kossaras hit a 3-pointer in transition for a 61-55 advantage.

The Dons kept the game within two possessions until Kossaras hit his second 3-pointer with 6:48 remaining to put the Buffs up seven at 68-61. After a Cook miss, Sebastian Rancik put the Buffaloes up double digits with a 3-pointer and a 71-61 lead.

San Francisco briefly cut the lead to five on a Veniamin Abosi 3-pointer, but the Buffaloes responded with five points from Hargress. A Hargress-to-Dak alley-oop dunk gave Colorado a 78-67 lead with just under a minute to play.

"San Francisco is going to win a lot of games," Boyle said. "That's a program that's won over 20 games eight of the past nine years. They're well-coached and have good players. They have a confidence about them and that was a good win for us. It was hard fought and not easy. And we can continue to grow and we can still get better."

USF took an early 7-4 lead before Rancik tied it with a 3-pointer. Hargress gave Colorado its first lead on a 3-pointer at 10-9 and then connected with Dak on an alley-oop as Colorado led 14-11 with 15:06 left.

Dak had six early points and assisted on a nice pass to Holland as the Buffaloes led 18-15 with 11:20 remaining. Dak had a career-high six assists, leading the Buffaloes who had 19 as a team.

USF went on an 8-0 run to retake the lead at 23-20 with the help of a pair of 3-pointers by Wang.

Tyrone Riley IV scored five straight to give USF its biggest lead at 28-22. Dak hit his first 3-pointer of the season, and Hargress followed up with his second 3-pointer of the game as CU cut the lead to 31-30.

Late in the half, Riley made his second 3-pointer and Wang scored off a turnover in the Colorado backcourt as USF regained a five-point advantage. Johnson scored a tough layup in the paint, was fouled and hit the free throw to cut the Dons' lead to two at the half.