SALT LAKE CITY —The Colorado men’s basketball team (9-13, 0-11 Big 12) fell once again on Wednesday in what was a tight battle. The Buffaloes’ late-game miscues and poor shooting allowed Utah (13-9, 5-6 Big 12) to find a lead and close the game late. The Utes topped the Buffs 72-59.
The loss dropped Colorado to 9-13 on the season. More concerning, the Buffs are still winless in conference play at 0-11, their first time doing that since the 1985-86 season (the Buffs went 0-14 in Big 8 play that season), while Utah improved to 13-9 and 5-6 in conference play.
CU’s Javon Ruffin led the scoring charge off the bench with 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting, with three of those four shots coming from range. Ruffin also had two rebounds and three assists.
Utah’s Gabe Madsen led the game with 17 points, shooting 50% from the field and 4-for-7 from deep.
Ezra Ausar was big for the Utes as well Sunday night. The 6-foot-8 junior logged 10 points, seven rebounds and the highlight game-sealing dunk.
In what may have been the closest Colorado has been to a conference win this season, its insufficiency from the field and ball security miscues led to the school’s worst start to conference play since 1986.
Colorado opened the game 2-for-14 from three, only putting up 20 points in the first half, its lowest since 2021 (19 points vs. Southern Illinois). The Buffaloes shot a lousy 21-for-55 (38.2%) from the field and finished the game 7-for-27 (25.9%) from three.
“We missed 21 shots in the first half and had zero second-chance points,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “What that tells me is our guys aren’t offensive rebounding like they need to. You can point to a plethora of things that we’re not doing that we need to do to win a game.”
CU’s consistent issue this season has been turnovers. Although against Utah, the Buffs didn’t suffer for their 15 turnovers this game, rather it was their inability to score. The Utes had 15 turnovers, but they outscored Colorado 17-12 off turnovers.
The Buffaloes’ rabbit hole of miscues continues to expand, and with five top-25 opponents (including No. 16 Kansas twice) left on the schedule, the Buffs could make history for the wrong reasons.
On the flip side, CU still has nine games remaining before postseason play to grab its first Big 12 win. But the Buffs will be challenged with the No. 5 team in the country, Houston, this weekend. Colorado will host the Houston Cougars (18-4, 10-1 Big 12) at the CU Events Center on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT (ESPN+).
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