For the third time in four seasons, Colorado is headed to the Pac-12 semifinals round.

Following the Buffs' 80-69 takedown of Oregon in the quarterfinals Thursday night, the stage is set for a showdown with No. 1 seed Arizona, which is also ranked at No. 2 in the nation, Friday night in Las Vegas.

Jabari Walker (18 points, 16 rebounds) and Evan Battey (19 points, 12 rebounds) both chipped in double-doubles, powering the Buffaloes to victory.

K.J. Simpson turned in a key performance off the bench, scoring 11 points with seven rebounds and six dimes, while Tristan da Silva quietly added 12 more points.

“We beat a really good program that’s won a lot of games and (is) very, very well-coached, that has great toughness about them,” Tad Boyle said after the win. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t.”

CU (and Oregon, for that matter) struggled offensively in the first half, shooting just 35%, compared to Oregon’s 28%, but outscored the Ducks 18-5 over the final 6:03 of the first half, taking a 36-30 lead at halftime.

The 76 shots Colorado took Thursday was the second-most all season, trailing only the 74 CU took vs. Duquesne back on Nov. 20.

By game's end, the Buffs had posted a respectable 41% (30-of-74) make rate from the floor.

After struggling mightily from long range to begin the game, Battey and Luke O’Brien both drilled three-pointers in the final 91 seconds of the opening half.

The game was far from over at that point, but it gave Colorado a good boost heading into the decisive second half.

“We always stress finish halves strong,” Simpson said. “That was just something we went into doing. We executed a play…going into the second half, you want that momentum. You want that same energy that you just finished with.”

There was much trading of baskets between the Buffs and Ducks as the second half progressed, with Oregon coming to within four points with 6:35 to play, but CU kept the pressure up offensively and built enough of a cushion to close out the game in relative comfort.

The Ducks played without key senior guard Will Richardson, who is missing the Pac-12 Tournament with an undisclosed non-COVID illness.

With Richardson out, Oregon leaned on Quincy Guerrier, who posted a double-double of 25 points and 13 boards, and Jacob Young, who dropped 18.

On multiple occasions in the second half, Oregon trimmed its deficit to one point or a single basket, but Colorado did not relinquish its lead at any point in the final 20 minutes of play.

With 6:58 to play, Guerrier drove hard into the paint and was met by Simpson, who planted both feet, absorbed the contact and drew a charge.

The call infuriated Ducks head coach Dana Altman, and after the game resumed, Walker translated Simpson’s tough defensive stand with a three-point play, putting CU up by seven.

As was the case at many points in the second half, Oregon answered Walker with a basket of its own, this time via a three-pointer by Guerrier, but within a few moments after that, Walker had hit another shot and Nique Clifford finished at the rim to give Colorado a 67-59 lead with 5:33 to play.

“K.J. took the charge,” Boyle said. "I was mad at him in the first half because he had an opportunity to take a charge on (Jacob) Young, but he didn’t do it. But that was a critical point in the game…That was huge (for) momentum.”

Having witnessed how Arizona State crumbled completely in the last few minutes of last night’s game vs. Stanford, with a 13-point lead with three minutes left in the game, the Buffs made sure not to take their foot off the gas.

The Ducks had one final comeback attempt up their sleeve in the waning minutes, as back-to-back threes by Rivaldo Soares and Guerrier got them within eight of Colorado, but the two baskets plus a full-court press on the Buffs wasn’t enough.

Keeshawn Barthelemy hit the final shot of the game with 35 seconds remaining and from there, Colorado put a tidy bow on things.

With the win, CU now faces Arizona at 7 p.m. MST Friday night.

The two teams split their regular season meetings, with the Buffs most recently handing the second-ranked Wildcats a 79-63 loss in Boulder on March 5.