Following a pair of tough losses at home to both USC and UCLA, the Buffaloes picked up a win on the road at Oregon Tuesday night, 82-78, overcoming a rough start early in the game to top a Ducks team that had won six straight games.
Tuesday marked the first time Colorado had won at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene since early 2013.
For Tad Boyle, it was just what the doctor ordered, given that the Buffaloes had come so close to getting wins against the ranked Trojans and Bruins last week.
"I talked to our team before we took the floor," Boyle said. "I said, 'Let's remember what just happened in the second half against UCLA: we got better.' That's what we have to build on, and we built on that tonight."
The Buffs had a lead of six with 3:52 to play and led by seven with just 47 seconds left in the game.
In both cases, Colorado's position was made far less comfortable due to some troubling inbounding issues, with Tristan da Silva notably committing two turnovers in failing to find an open man on two separate inbounding attempts.
The Ducks refused to go down quietly in the last minute of the game, twice coming within a single basket of the Buffs, trimming their deficit down to three points.
A deep three-pointer by Oregon's De'vion Harmon made the score 81-78, still in favor of the Buffs, with just 11 seconds to play.
Luckily for the Buffaloes, they were near flawless from the charity stripe throughout the game, including late, when it mattered most.
On the night, CU posted a 91% (20-of-22) make rate on free throws, good for the best such percentage of the season to date.
Oregon simply could not miss through the first few minutes of the game, and, aided by a few CU turnovers, took a quick 13-0 lead in just over three minutes into things.
Shortly thereafter, Colorado found itself in a 15-point hole, trailing 20-5 at the 14:22 mark of the first half.
With a bit under five minutes left before halftime, a da Silva bucket brought CU to within five of Oregon, but the Ducks then went on a 7-0 lead to go up by 12, 38-26, with 3:38 on the clock.
To the Buffaloes' credit, they closed out the first half on a favorable note. Da Silva and K.J. Simpson hit back-to-back three-pointers, and a Jabari Walker triple with 36 seconds proved to be the final basket of the half, at which point Colorado had lessened its deficit to a manageable five points.
Walker was the Buffs' anchor Tuesday, as he turned in his Pac-12-best ninth double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Da Silva, despite his inbounding woes, made significant offensive contributions, scoring 15, while Barthelemy added 19 of his own, going a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line.
The Buffs had started to heat up offensively by the time the first half ended but went on a tear in the final 20 minutes, posting a 58% conversion rate in the second half and outscoring Oregon, 45-36 during that time.
"Our team figured out how to come back and win tonight," Boyle said. "We've got a lot of room for improvement...We had some really good individual performances, but you have to find a way, and we found a way tonight. I'm really, really proud of our guys."
The Ducks took multiple leads of nine points early into the second half but by the 12:05 mark, following a completed three-point play by da Silva, the score was tied at 57.
With 9:22 to play, Evan Battey drilled a three-pointer, handing the Buffaloes their first lead of the night at 62-61.
Over the final eight-and-a-half minutes of the game, the Buffs did not relinquish their lead.
A nice steal under the basket by Walker led to a Luke O'Brien three-pointer, which increased CU's lead to a game-high six points with 7:28 left in the game.
The Ducks snuck to within two points about 90 seconds later, but a pair of Barthelemy free throws gave Colorado a bit more breathing room.
In total, Barthelemy would go 6-of-6 from the charity stripe in the last five minutes of the game.
While Oregon wasn't ranked (the Ducks received votes in Monday's AP Top 25 poll, coming in as the unofficial No. 32 team in the nation), Tuesday's win should give the Buffaloes a nice bump up the NET rankings.
Of course, there will be little time to celebrate, as looking down the barrel, CU has two remaining games, Thursday at Washington and Sunday at Washington State, before this current road trip is complete.
"I mentioned this after the game — it's about not taking steps back this time of year," Boyle said. "Not that you're going to win every game...whether you're at home or on the road, you've got to battle every night."
"It's a great win, but we cannot — I repeat — we cannot be satisfied with this. We have to try to do whatever we can do to win one up at Seattle."
