Buffs Snap Losing Streak, Take Down TCU at Home

Sunday, February 1

Boulder, Colo.

12 p.m.

Colorado

13-9,3-6Big 12

TCU

13-9,3-6Big 12

TCU

Colorado

February 01, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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By: Aiden Tank, Athletic Communications

BOULDER – A new look Colorado snapped a six-game losing streak with three new starters as the Buffaloes outpaced TCU 87-61, Sunday afternoon at the CU Events Center.

Tad Boyle's Buffs improved to 13-9 overall and 3-6 in Big 12 play. TCU dropped to 13-9 and 3-6 in the Big 12.

"We hadn't seen that Colorado Buffalo team in November, December or January, but we finally saw it on February 1," Boyle said. "I told our team, better late than never on that, but I was really, really proud of the response that we got from everybody involved tonight. And it just shows how good this team can be. But we have to play with that energy and that effort, that toughness, and we showed it tonight, and the results speak for themselves."

After an extended stretch of struggles, Boyle made a big change to the starting lineup. Today, he featured four true freshmen, including three who made their first career starts in Jalin Holland, Fawaz "Tacko" Ifaola, and Josiah Sanders.

The four freshmen who started, plus Ian Inman and Alon Michaeli, who came off the bench, combined for 43 points.

Five Buffs scored in double figures, with Sebastian Rancik leading the way with 17 points. Isaiah Johnson finished with 16, Bangot Dak had 14, Sanders set a new career-high with 12, and Barrington Hargress added 10 points.

Xavier Edmonds led TCU with 13 points and 12 rebounds before having to leave the game in the second half after a flagrant two foul.

The Buffs took a 13-point lead at the break off a strong first half. Colorado opened it up in the second half, pushing the lead to 20 points with 13 minutes remaining, and as much as 28 points. TCU never came closer than 23 in the last 10 minutes.

Colorado controlled the game defensively. TCU shot just 33.3 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from deep. There were six instances during the game when the Buffs forced TCU into four consecutive missed shots.

"It was just playing together, it wasn't one guy, it was all five who were on the court, and then energy from the bench as well," Sanders said on the defensive effort. "We've been talking about that a lot in practice, so it's really good just to come out here and see that we could really do that. We have to hold ourselves to that standard, and come out here and do that the next game, the next game, and the next game."

On the offensive end, Colorado tied its season-high with 24 assists on 35 made baskets. Four of the five starters finished with at least four assists, led by Sanders, who set a new career-high with six.

"We got back to playing good basketball," said Rancik on the high assist numbers. "(Previously) we were dribbling the ball too much and it's nice that we just played good basketball tonight."

HOW IT HAPPENED
With the new starting lineup, the Buffs came out of the gates strong, with the opening 10 points coming from players making their first career starts. Holland had the opening five points with a driving layup and a left corner 3-pointer. Sanders followed that up with a right corner 3-pointer, and Ifaola got his on a layup with the dish coming from Holland to go up 10-7 with 15:21 left in the first half.

Colorado's hot shooting continued as the bench trickled in. Rancik and Felix Kossaras connected on 3-pointers of their own, as the Buffaloes made their first four from downtown.

After forcing TCU into six straight missed shots on the defensive end, the Buffs added some scoring to extend the lead to 30-21, with a Sanders fast break and-1 to cap it off.

The defensive intensity continued, as TCU made only three of its last 19 shots of the first half, including a stretch of over seven minutes without scoring.

A putback by Dak gave Colorado a 38-25 lead at the half. This is the first time leading at the end of the first half since playing Utah at home on Jan. 7.

Defense was the story of the first half. Colorado held TCU to 32.1 percent (9-of-32) from the floor and 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from 3-point range with seven turnovers forced. On the other end of the court, the Buffs outscored the Horned Frogs 20-10 on points in the paint and had seven second-chance points off five offensive rebounds.

After struggling to shoot the ball in the first half, Johnson and Hargress scored eight quick points before Johnson threw an alley-oop to Dak to give the Buffs a 17-point lead.

As the Buffs looked to extend their lead, TCU lost its most productive player in Edmonds after a flagrant two foul.

Colorado continued to push its lead, taking scoring contributions from everyone in the lineup. The lead grew to 28 points after Johnson hit his third 3-pointer of the game.

UP NEXT
Colorado hits the road and heads to Texas to face off against Baylor on Wednesday at 6 p.m. MT on Peacock.