Colorado University Athletics
Sunday, December 28
Boulder, Colo.
1 p.m.
Colorado
vs
Northern Colorado
Buffs Close Out Nonconference Play With UNC Sunday
December 26, 2025 | Men's Basketball
Game 13 - Northern Colorado, Sunday, December 28, 2025
CU Events Center, Boulder, Colo.
Tip: 1:01 p.m. MT
Watch: ESPN+ (Mark Johnson, Scott Wilke)Â https://buffs.me/44LktzWÂ
Radio: KOA 850 AM & 94.1 FM (Jerry Schemmel)
Listen Online: Sirius XM 392, SXM App 982Â https://sxm.app.link/SXM982
Live Statistics: http://statb.us/b/611126
THE BUFFALOES: Colorado is 10-2 overall, returning from the holiday break to close out the nonconference portion of its schedule with in-state rival Northern Colorado. The Buffaloes dropped their second game of the year on Dec. 20, 77-68, to Stanford in the Hall of Fame Series Phoenix game.
After an 8-0 start, Colorado's best in 76 years, the Buffaloes are an even 2-2 over the last four. Colorado has 10 wins after 12 games for the second time in three seasons, joining the 2023-24 NCAA Tournament team that had started conference play by the time the 12th game hit. The Buffaloes 10-2 mark through nonconference play is their best since the 2019-20 went 11-2 in nonleague play.Colorado, which was 9-2 during the nonconference schedule a year ago, didn't win its 10th game last season until Feb. 15.
ABOUT THE BEARS: Northern Colorado is 9-3 overall and heads to Boulder on a two-game losing streak after falling to a different in-state rival Denver, 86-79 at home and the No. 19 ranked Texas Tech on the road 101-90. The Bears are averaging 86.9 points per game, shooting 50.7 percent from the field both of which lead the Big Sky Conference. UNC has been solid at sharing the basketball, leading the Big Sky in assists per game with 18.2 per night which is also 35th in the country.. Defensively, the Bears are allowing 75.8 points per game, and have held opponents to 45.7 percent shooting. UNC is also toward the top of the Big Sky in team 3-point defense holding teams to just 28.5% from deep.
Graduate guard Quinn Denker leads the Bear's at 17.3 points per game which ranks third in the Big Sky. Denker also leads the Big Sky in assists per game with 6.1, which is 22nd in the nation. The Bears have two other players who average double-digits in points: senior forward Brock Wisne (16.8) and graduate guard Zach Bloch (13.3). Bloch has made a name for himself as a 3-point shooter. He leads the conference and is fourth in the country with 51.9% from deep. He makes 3.33 3-pointers a game which leads the conference and is 20th in the NCAA.
THE SERIES:Â This will be the 44th meeting between Colorado and Northern Colorado in a series that dates back to a 35-20 Buffaloes win on Jan. 25, 1918. Colorado holds a 25-18 edge in the series and has won the last 13. All 18 of UNC's wins in the series came in the 1920s and 1930s when the schools were rivals in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Buffaloes won three-straight during the 1936-37 and 1937-38 seasons as Colorado was transitioning over to the Mountain States Conference and putting the series on a 41-year hiatus. The series resumed for one game - a 78-56 CU win on Dec. 16, 1978 - before another 25-year pause. Â The two teams have met nine times since 2004, including a 90-88 double overtime Colorado win on Nov. 8, 2024. Head coach Tad Boyle is 7-0 against UNC, the program he coached from 2006-10.
THE BUFFALOES: Colorado is 10-2 overall, returning from the holiday break to close out the nonconference portion of its schedule with in-state rival Northern Colorado. The Buffaloes dropped their second game of the year on Dec. 20, 77-68, to Stanford in the Hall of Fame Series Phoenix game.
After an 8-0 start, Colorado's best in 76 years, the Buffaloes are an even 2-2 over the last four. Colorado has 10 wins after 12 games for the second time in three seasons, joining the 2023-24 NCAA Tournament team that had started conference play by the time the 12th game hit. The Buffaloes 10-2 mark through nonconference play is their best since the 2019-20 went 11-2 in nonleague play.Colorado, which was 9-2 during the nonconference schedule a year ago, didn't win its 10th game last season until Feb. 15.
ABOUT THE BEARS: Northern Colorado is 9-3 overall and heads to Boulder on a two-game losing streak after falling to a different in-state rival Denver, 86-79 at home and the No. 19 ranked Texas Tech on the road 101-90. The Bears are averaging 86.9 points per game, shooting 50.7 percent from the field both of which lead the Big Sky Conference. UNC has been solid at sharing the basketball, leading the Big Sky in assists per game with 18.2 per night which is also 35th in the country.. Defensively, the Bears are allowing 75.8 points per game, and have held opponents to 45.7 percent shooting. UNC is also toward the top of the Big Sky in team 3-point defense holding teams to just 28.5% from deep.
Graduate guard Quinn Denker leads the Bear's at 17.3 points per game which ranks third in the Big Sky. Denker also leads the Big Sky in assists per game with 6.1, which is 22nd in the nation. The Bears have two other players who average double-digits in points: senior forward Brock Wisne (16.8) and graduate guard Zach Bloch (13.3). Bloch has made a name for himself as a 3-point shooter. He leads the conference and is fourth in the country with 51.9% from deep. He makes 3.33 3-pointers a game which leads the conference and is 20th in the NCAA.
THE SERIES:Â This will be the 44th meeting between Colorado and Northern Colorado in a series that dates back to a 35-20 Buffaloes win on Jan. 25, 1918. Colorado holds a 25-18 edge in the series and has won the last 13. All 18 of UNC's wins in the series came in the 1920s and 1930s when the schools were rivals in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Buffaloes won three-straight during the 1936-37 and 1937-38 seasons as Colorado was transitioning over to the Mountain States Conference and putting the series on a 41-year hiatus. The series resumed for one game - a 78-56 CU win on Dec. 16, 1978 - before another 25-year pause. Â The two teams have met nine times since 2004, including a 90-88 double overtime Colorado win on Nov. 8, 2024. Head coach Tad Boyle is 7-0 against UNC, the program he coached from 2006-10.
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