Buffs Take Down Sun Devils In Big 12 Opener

Saturday, January 3

Tempe, Ariz.

3 p.m.

Colorado

11-3,1-0Big 12

Arizona State

9-5,0-1Big 12

Colorado

Arizona St.

Photo by: Tyler Davis

January 03, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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By: Curtis Snyder, Associate AD/Athletic Communications

TEMPE, Ariz. – Colorado's Barrington Hargress scored 17 points in the first half and Isaiah Johnson scored nine of the Buffaloes' final 13 points to secure CU's first Big 12 road win since rejoining the league last season.

Colorado snaps a two-game losing streak and improves to 11-3 on the season and opens 1-0 in the Big 12. ASU falls to 9-4 overall and 0-1 in league play.

Colorado, 0-10 a year ago in road league games, claims its first conference road win since taking its final two Pac-12 Conference games against the Oregon schools in the 2023-24 season. It's the Buffs first win in a road conference opener since beating ASU back in the 2019-20 season.

"Shows they got grit, they got gumption, they got toughness," Tad Boyle said when asked about winning for the first time on the road. "I thought we made some really big plays down the stretch. Now we didn't make enough of them, you got to continue to learn, especially with a young team like this. You have to learn every single day in practice, you have to learn every single game."

Johnson led the Buffs in scoring with 19 points, hitting 7-of-8 from the line and two from behind the arc. Sebastian Rancik had a stellar game, as well, scoring 18 points, hitting 12-of-14 from the line, including the final two to ice the game. Hargress' 17 points in the first half allowed the Buffs to take a 48-38 lead into the break.

"Isaiah is a terrific basketball player," Boyle said. "He's not afraid of the moment. And he is a he's a big time freshman. He's not getting the national attention that he deserves, but he will, if we can continue to win some games in this league. I can't say enough about him and his confidence level, his toughness, his grit."

All nine Buffs that played scored four or more points, with Jalin Holland scoring seven, Felix Kossaras, Elijah Malone and Alon Michaeli six apiece and Josiah Sanders rounded it out with four points.
Dak added 10 rebounds for his third career double-double, and Sanders led the way with five assists in the game. Sanders and Johnson each had two steals, Johnon's second one key in the final minute of the game, and Rancik added six rebounds and led the way with two blocks.

In a physical game that saw 49 fouls called between the two teams, the Buffs used a 13-3 run mid way through the first half to turn a tied game (14-14) into a 27-17 lead. The Buffs held that lead in double figures into the second half before ASU began to chip away, briefly taking two leads late in the game before Johnson had his late flurry of points to allow the Buffs to hang on for the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Both teams got off to a cold start with just six points scored the first four minutes of game action before the first media timeout. Malone got the Buffs on the board first just over a minute into the game and after a quick ASU bucket, Hargress hit a jumper in the paint and then the game was scoreless for the next two-and-a-half minutes with the Buffs holding the early 4-2 lead.

The next four minutes was a different story, with CU outscoring ASU 15-12 to take a 19-14 lead. ASU came out of the previous timeout with a quick 5-0 run that was quickly answered by a CU 5-0 run when Rancik was fouled on a 3-pointer and hit all three freebies and then Hargress got a layup. The two then traded the lead the next five possessions as Hargress stayed hot, hitting a jumper and then 3-pointer on consecutive Buff possessions. Holland then hit a three and Dak had a fast break on another CU 5-0 run to take the 19-14 lead at the 12-minute mark of the first half.

The Buffs extended that run to 7-0 after Johnson quickly hit a layup after that timeout. ASU just managed one 3-pointer the next four minutes and Hargress hit double figures with another layup at about the 9-minute mark of the first half and a Sanders layup extended the Buffs lead to eight points at 25-17 prior to the under-8 media timeout.

Rancik hit a pair of free throws to extend CU's lead to 10 for the first time at 27-17 coming out of that timeout. A Hargress jumper was CU's only scoring the next two minutes but then Johnson got hot and hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to extend CU's lead to 14 points at 35-21 with just under five minutes left in the half.

The last five minutes of the first half took a long time, with both a flagrant and technical foul called on the Buffs, and those four free throws were the difference in the scoring over that time frame. Malone hit two field goals on back-to-back possessions, Hargress had a contested layup and Michaeli hit two free throws. Kossaras hit a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left and Hargress a layup at the first-half buzzer to keep the Buffs lead in double figures, 48-38, at the break, giving him 17 points in the first half.

The Sun Devils came out hot in the second half and quickly cut CU's lead to six points at 50-44 before Dak went on a 7-2 run by himself and pushed the lead back to 11 at 57-46. But by the time the first media timeout had been called, ASU went on a 6-0 run to cut that lead back down to five points at 57-52.

ASU extended that run to 8-0 and cut the lead to 57-54 before the Buffs responded with a Holland jumper. Rancik got an and-one to push the CU lead back to eight almost exactly one minute later at the 13-minute mark and Johnson hit a layup. ASU responded to that 5-0 run to cut the lead to six points, 64-58, at the under-12 media timeout.

Holland hit two free throws out of that timeout to push CU's lead back to eight at 66-58, and the Buffs held the lead between eight and 11 points the next four minutes. Sanders had a nice driving layup, Dak hit a shot from in close, Rancik hit 1-of-2 at the line, Michaeli hit two at the line and Kossaras had a nice back-door layup from Rancik and then a free throw on the next possession and with just over eight minutes left, the lead remained at seven points, 78-71.

ASU continued to chip away at the lead, after Rancik had a nice putback in the lane to put CU up 80-81, ASU scored six straight points to force a CU timeout with 5:39 left in the game. At this point Maurice Odom and Allen Mukeba had combined to score the Sun Devils last 17 points after CU was up 71-60 at the midpoint of the second half.

The Sun Devils took their first lead since 12-11 heading into the final media timeout at 81-80 by extended its run to 10-0 over a stretch of three minutes of game action. Rancik was fouled going into that break, and he hit both free throws coming out to give CU a 82-81 lead. Mukeba hit 1-of-2 from the line for ASU, then Johnson did for CU to make is 83-82, Buffs. ASU hit a layup, then Johnson went on a mini 4-0 run, hitting a layup and then pair of free throws, to put CU up 87-84. Diop hit a pair of free throws for ASU and then both Rancik and Dak both hit 1-of-2 to put CU back up by three, 89-86, when Boyle called a timeout with 43 seconds left.

Johnson got a huge steal on the next possession then got fouled and hit both free throws to put CU up 91-86. ASU hit a big 3-pointer with 22.9 seconds left to bring ASU back within two, 91-89.
Johnson was fouled and hit both free throws to put CU back up two possessions at 93-89. On the next possession, Kossaras blocked a huge 3-pointer from ASU with 10 seconds left and Rancik secured the rebound, was fouled and hit two free throws for the final score, Buffs win 95-89.

UP NEXT

The Buffs' Big 12 home opener will take place Wednesday when Utah visits the CU Events Center in a 7 p.m. tipoff on ESPN+.