Freshman Cody Williams scored a season-high 23 points and KJ Simpson added 22, leading Colorado to an 86-70 win over Oregon on Thursday night in Boulder, Colo.
The Buffaloes (13-5, 4-3 Pac-12) handed the Ducks their first conference defeat and ended Oregon’s six-game winning streak. Oregon (13-4, 5-1) remained in first place in the Pac-12 despite the loss.
Jadrian Tracey’s 14 points led the Ducks, while Jermaine Couisnard contributed 11.
The Buffaloes blew a 14-point lead but had an answer with the game’s key stretch near the midway point of the second half. Down 57-56, Colorado scored 14 of the game’s next 16 points.
Simpson’s layup and free throw after being fouled gave Colorado a 70-59 lead with 7:06 to play. Oregon could only get as close as nine points after that, as the Buffaloes surged to a 16-point lead in the final minutes.
Colorado used an 11-0 run to take a 29-20 lead in the first half, and the hosts were up 35-22 after a Simpson jumper at the 5:08 mark.
Oregon got the deficit down to eight points, but Tristan da Silva took a rebound the length of the court for a driving dunk and a 43-29 lead. The 14-point advantage was cut to 43-34 by halftime, as the Ducks made 57.1 percent of their shots in the first half to stay somewhat close.
da Silva finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Ducks scored the first six points of the second half, and they soon trailed just 45-43 after Couisnard hit a 3-pointer at the 17:38 mark. Oregon went on a 7-0 run to take a 50-49 lead, its first of the second half.
However, the Ducks made just 14 of 34 shot attempts (41.2 percent) in the second half, most of those misses as Colorado took over the game.
The Buffaloes had a 40-28 advantage on points in the paint and a 28-13 advantage in fastbreak points as they succeeded at running the floor and getting the Ducks’ big men in foul trouble.
Colorado improved to 11-0 on its home floor.
–Field Level Media
