Despite a valiant rally down the stretch of the second half, which saw the Buffs somehow have a chance in the final seconds to tie the game, a night full of turnovers and a lackadaisical start to the second half proved too much to overcome, with Washington pulling off a 60-58 win.

In Tuesday’s comeback win over Oregon, the Buffaloes trailed by as much as 15 in the game before ultimately winning.

Against the Huskies, Colorado had once more managed to fall way behind, this time in the second half, with UW at one point going on an early 19-3 run, eventually taking a 57-42 lead with 8:27 to play.

The Buffs eventually got within striking distance in the final 90 seconds of the game, with a pair of missed free throws by UW’s Terrell Brown Jr. with 24 seconds setting up a last attempt by Colorado to tie the game.

In fact, Washington failed to score a single point in the last 4:18 of the game, daring the Buffs to steal a win.

On CU’s final possession, Jabari Walker was fed the ball in the game’s waning seconds, but his short-range jumper was no good, and the Huskies hung on to win.

Turnovers and offensive rebounds allowed — recurring issues for Colorado this season — were once again crippling for the Buffs, who turned the ball over 16 times and allowed 15 offensive zone boards to the Huskies.

Tad Boyle did not hold back after the game in his KOA radio remarks with Mark Johnson.

“Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic by the Colorado Buffaloes tonight,” he said. “We could not have played worse…I’ve never been more embarrassed after a loss that I can remember at Colorado in 11-and-a-half years than I am right now tonight in Seattle, Washington. How the hell we have a chance to tie it at the end, I have no idea.”

By the end of the game, Washington had posted a +7 (42-35) advantage on the glass.

CU also had no answer for Brown, the Pac-12’s leading scorer coming into Thursday evening. He drove to the lane and finished at the rim with near total impunity, shooting 10-of-17 with 26 points.

The Buffaloes (13-7, 5-5 Pac-12) had little luck in cracking Washington’s zone defense, managing just 14 points in the paint as compared to the Huskies’ 38.

Boyle also was frustrated that 15 of 16 of CU’s turnovers were on steals by the Huskies.

“It’s like we’ve never seen a zone,” Boyle said. “We had some really good possessions against it, but our team’s not consistent enough and we’re not tough enough…We got bullied tonight, we got punked tonight, we got out-toughed tonight. There’s no excuse for it and I’m the coach that let it happen.”

For Colorado, Walker (14 points, nine rebounds) led the way statistically, with Keeshawn Barthelemy and Elijah Parquet both contributing nine points apiece.

Early on, the Buffs got off to a 5-0 start and led by as much by seven in the first half, before the Huskies managed to close the gap.

Colorado took a 32-31 lead into halftime, but as the second half got underway, it was UW that came out swinging.

CU managed just five points in the first 10:06 of the second half, compared to the 20 points Washington scored during that time.

At that point, UW had its biggest lead of the game, 52-37.

A jumper by Nique Clifford with a bit under seven minutes to play got the Buffs within 10 points of the Huskies, but despite Washington scoring only three points in the final 8:27 of the game, Colorado was unable to overcome its own multitude of struggles.

Heading into Thursday’s game, the Buffaloes aimed to keep building momentum following a solid rod win over Oregon two days prior.

Having failed to defeat both USC and UCLA at home last week — in large part to turnovers and being beat up on the glass — the need to beat Washington was far more urgent if the Buffs were to continue trending in the right direction from the vantage point of building NCAA Tournament resume.

Now, with CU’s three-game road trip set to conclude on Sunday night in Pullman vs. WSU, the loss to UW feels like a major blown opportunity.

“We’re going to look back at this one at some point, and we’re going to say, ‘This one cost us something,’” Boyle said. “We don’t know what it, but it cost us something.”

The Buffs and Cougs tipoff at 8 p.m. Sunday night at Beasley Coliseum.