Colorado defeated Oklahoma State 83-69 at the CU Events Center on Saturday afternoon, securing a win after pulling away in the second half. The victory brings Colorado’s overall record to 15-12 and 5-9 in Big 12 conference play, while Oklahoma State drops to 16-11 overall and 4-10 in the conference.
Colorado head coach Tad Boyle expressed satisfaction with the result. “When you don’t play your best, and come out of a Big 12 game with a double-digit win you feel pretty good,” Boyle said. “We’ve got the ability to play so much better than we played tonight, but you take it, you move on. I am really proud of our guys.”
Barrington Hargress contributed 16 points and eight assists for Colorado, while Bangot Dak led the team with 17 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Alon Michaeli added 12 points off the bench along with five rebounds.
Oklahoma State was led by Parsa Fallah’s 14 points. Reflecting on defending Fallah, Dak said, “It’s tough. He’s a big body. He’s someone that works for the ball and he knows that he’s the head of the snake of their team, along with Anthony Roy. I kept trying to move my feet to stay in front of him, but he’s a good player.”
The Buffs started strong with a decisive early run, scoring 20 unanswered points to establish a lead as high as 17 in the first half. However, Oklahoma State closed the gap before halftime and then took its first lead since early in the game shortly after halftime.
Colorado regained control midway through the second half by spreading contributions across its lineup and executing several scoring runs while maintaining defensive pressure late in the game.
Boyle commented on his team’s depth: “I think we have a kind of team that if we have our top six or seven guys that are playing well, on any given night we can beat anybody,” he said. “We’re pretty dangerous. It takes a whole team to win games, but when we start playing well one through seven, we have a chance to do some good things here down the stretch.”
Seven Colorado players scored at least seven points each during the contest.
Looking ahead, Colorado will remain at home next week to face Kansas State on Wednesday evening.
