A strenuous lull in the frontcourt in the first half evolved into another dominant offensive performance from Tristan da Silva, and with the help of their unwavering defense, the Buffs reentered the winning column beating Cal, 59-46.

Da Silva is on a roll as of late hitting at least 20 in the last four games. The previous Buff to achieve such a run was Josh Scott during the 2015-16 season. In addition to the big numbers for da Silva, what brought home Thursday's win was the Buffs’ defensive showing.

The last time the Buffs played Cal, it was a much different narrative in the backcourt as the Golden Bears hit 58% of their shots from the field giving them their third win of the season on Dec. 31. Thursday, CU held Cal to 37.2% and 46 points.

The Buffs have held five opponents to 46 or fewer in the Pac-12 era and three have come this season in games against Oregon (66-41), Oregon State (62-42) and Cal on Thursday.

Cal senior guard Joel Brown was a player of interest on Thursday night because of how he played in the last encounter with the Buffs. He hit his career-high 21 points in that game, but on CU’s hardwood he only connected on five, one from three and a pair from the free-throw line. Starting forward Kuany Kuany was the only player to hit double figures with 10 points, and six of them came from the line.

“I think they scored 80 the first game or something like that and I know the first half we shot 25% and we were only down by three in the first half, which is a huge credit to our defense,” CU guard Luke O’Brien said. “Coach talked about that and we were gonna get our shots in the second half and they’re going to follow. I thought we just kept battling on defense, so that’s the reason we were able to pull it out.”

Colorado's offense was far from optimal in the first half with the Buffs turning good looks to bricks, getting blocked and mismanaging possessions. Five offensive fouls ensued for the Buffs, some of them questionable, with head coach Tad Boyle pounding on the table in one instance, but Cal was able to gain an extra nine points from the line.

“I deserve my technical foul,” Boyle said. “I got my money’s worth.”

The Buffs stayed in the game due to their defense coupled with Cal’s lackluster shooting capabilities. The Bears ended up hitting 33.3% of their shots from the field in the first half. They sit 11th in the Pac-12 averaging 40.3% from the field.

Usual heavy hitters da Silva and KJ Simpson only hit a combined nine points in the first half and Buffs only landed 6 of their 24 attempts from the field. A late three from Julian Hammond III and a few buckets from Jalen Gabbidon left them trailing 27-24.

“Talked to our team at halftime about the fact that we shot 25% and you’re down three at the half,” Boyle said. “It means you’re doing something right, means you’re battling and fighting and scratching and clawing. We did a good job of that in the first half. We didn’t let our frustrations on offense leak over to our energy and execution on defense.

“That’s a sign of maturity. That’s a sign of mental toughness.”

A renewed presence from da Silva in the second half led to him going on an 8-0 run and racking up 12 points to give the Buffs their first lead.

“I got a couple of open looks and a couple of easy baskets around the rim,” da Silva said. “As I said, I’m just trying to try to play the game the right way and happened to score right out of the gate in the second half.”

While continuing their defensive efforts, Colorado was to run away with the lead.

Big plays came from O’Brien in the second half as well highlighted by a dunk with the assist that came from Simpson. Even though Simpson struggled to get the ball in the basket, he contributed at a high level on defense.

“I thought KJ played a good floor game tonight and he was good defensively as well,” Boyle said.

J’Vonne Hadley experienced an injury in the first on his left hand that kept him out for the rest of the game. Gabbidon assisted in his absence putting up nine points and four rebounds.

As one Buff went out another came in as Javon Ruffin played his first minutes since suffering a knee injury against UCLA on Jan. 14.

The home victory moves Colorado to 13-11 overall and 5-8 in Pac-12 play. Continuing with the Bay Area teams, CU plays Stanford at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

“February in league play, everybody knows what you're doing,” Boyle said. “We know what Cal is doing. We want to know what Stanford's doing on Sunday. Stanford's gonna know we're doing. Your players are scouted, it gets more and more difficult to score in February in league play because there's so much data out there and people are gonna try to take your strengths away and make you play to your weaknesses. One of our weaknesses is just make simple plays and try not to force the issue. Just make simple basketball plays, and when we do that, we're pretty good.”

Colorado tied a season-high with 13 steals, hitting that mark for the third time this year. Thursday was the sixth game the Buffs had 10 or more steals in a game.

California's 22 turnovers tied a CU opponent season high. It was Colorado's third game forcing 20-plus turnovers this season.