BOULDER, Colo. β Arizonaβs defense didnβt wake up early enough for a midday start at Colorado, and the Wildcats never fully recovered.
Colorado upset the 14th-ranked Wildcats 80-77 on Saturday at the Coors Events Center after building a 20-point first half lead while shooting 64.3 percent before halftime. Then the Buffs regained control after the Wildcats crept within three points in the second half.
Five CU players scored in double figures, led by McKinley Wright, who had 16 points and 10 assists for the Buffaloes.Β
Colorado shot 54.7 percent for the game while UA shot just 38.4 percent. The Wildcats received a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds from Dusan Ristic while Deandre Ayton had 26 points and five rebounds, stuck one shy of the UA freshman record of 11 double-doubles.
The loss dropped UA to 12-4 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-12, where all teams have at least one loss after just two weekends. It also was the first Arizona loss in the United States and snapped a streak of nine straight UA wins, dating back to the Wildcats' three-loss showing in the Thanksgiving week Battle 4 Atlantis event.
Colorado improved to 10-6 and 2-2, having also upset fourth-ranked ASU in overtime on Thursday at the Coors Events Center.
Down 45-29 at halftime, the Wildcats kept Colorado scoreless for five minutes and 16 seconds early in the second half to pull within 49-46 on a layup from Allonzo Trier with 12:17 remaining.
On one notable CU possession, the Wildcats successfully defended a 3-point try and layup attempt from George King β and then went downcourt to feed Ayton for a dunk that he converted to a 3-point play by hitting a free throw after a foul from Tyler Bey.
But Colorado never let the Wildcats tie or take a lead the game, and instead took a double-digit lead back, 65-55, with 5:39 left after layups by Dom Collier and McKinley Wright. Later, a three-point play from Ristic cut Coloradoβs lead to 68-61 entering the final media timeout (3:48) of the game.
A layup from Colorado 7-foot center Dallas Walton gave the Buffs a 72-63 lead with 1:58 to go, and the Buffs hung on from there.
In the first half, the Wildcatsβ broken-down Arizona defense allowed Colorado to shoot 64.3 percent and take a 45-29 halftime lead.
Walton led the Buffs in the first half with 11 points, and even hit one of the Buffsβ four 3-point shots made in seven attempts.
Arizona shot 30 percent from the field and made just 3 of 13 3-pointers before halftime. Ayton was held to five points and two rebounds, while Ristic had four points and five rebounds.
The Wildcatsβ defense was so bad early that a frustrated UA coach Sean Miller called three timeouts in the first half and even inserted freshman Emmanuel Akot β the freshman he once declared UA's likely defensive stopper β after not playing Akot at all in the Wildcatsβ previous two games.
Akot had a steal and hit a 3-pointer in five first-half minutes played.
The Wildcats fell behind 7-3 early and struggled to defend the Buffs throughout the first half. Among UAβs bigger problems was finding Walton, who averaged just 4.1 points entering Saturdayβs game but took advantage of light coverage to score inside and out through the middle of the half, helping the Buffs take leads of up to 20 points.
Walton hit a 3-pointer and later an unguarded 18-footer that gave Colorado a 21-12 led, then later scored twice inside against to help Colorado go ahead 34-20.
UA also left alone another light scorer, DβShawn Schwartz, alone in the right corner and he hit a 3-pointer to give the Buffs a 42-22 lead.
UA cut the lead slightly over the final few minutes, getting two free throws from Keanu Pinder with 1:16 to go after he was fouled by Dom Collier and a minor scuffle ensued that resulted in a double technical against Coloradoβs Tyler Bey and UAβs Ira Lee.
