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The Colorado Buffaloes (16-9, 7-6 Pac-12) didn't play their best basketball in a 67-60 win over the Arizona Wildcats (14-12, 5-8 Pac-12), but timely buckets, gritty defense, and strong shooting from the field and free throw line propelled the Buffs to their fifth straight win.

The Buffs had three players who scored double digits and shot 56% in front of a home crowd of 7,899. Arizona shot just 44% and could only score 14 points off of 15 Buff turnovers.

Lucas Siewert did a little bit of everything for Colorado, leading the team with 15 points and chipping in nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 28 minutes of play. He drained two buckets from three-point range.

McKinley Wright scored 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting and added three rebounds and two assists. Shane Gatling added 11 points and had a team high plus/minus of 11.

The Buffs started the game strong and saw their lead get to 11 points, but the Wildcats wouldn't go away. With 6:17 left in the first half, CU led 32-21, but Arizona was able to chip away at the Buffs' lead with strong defensive play, as CU did not score a field goal the rest of the half. Colorado took a 34-28 lead into halftime. CU started the game shooting 9-of-10 but finished the half shooting 3-of-10.

To start the second half, Arizona quickly tied the game up at 36-36 for the first time since the opening tip, but the Buffs answered with a 15-3 run to take a 51-39 lead with 10:40 left in the contest. The Wildcats were able to make things interesting by cutting Colorado's lead to seven late in the contest but weren't able to capitalize on their striking distance.

IT WAS OVER WHEN

Colorado led 65-58 with :50 left, and with a three-point bucket, Arizona could've made things uncomfortable for the Buffaloes. Justin Coleman fired a shot from behind the arc but missed, and D'Shawn Schwartz hauled in the rebound. The Wildcats had to play the foul game from there.

KEY STATS

36 - With the loss to Colorado, the Wildcats have lost seven straight contests. It's the first time they've done so in 36 years.

5 - The Buffaloes have won five straight games, all coming against conference foes.

88 - Colorado shot very well from the free throw line. The Buffs were 14-of-16 (88%) from the charity strike.

0 - Arizona led for zero minutes in the entire contest. The game was tied for 1:32, and CU held a lead the rest of the game.

29.5 - McKinley Wright had a game-high usage % of 29.5. (Usage Percentage estimates the percentage of team plays that used a player while they were on the floor.)

WHAT IT MEANS

The Buffs are the hottest team in the conference. Washington has been far and away the best Pac-12 team this season with a 11-1 conference record, but the Buffs (7-6 Pac-12) have surged to just 1.5 games from second place behind Oregon State (8-4 Pac-12).

NEXT UP

The Buffs face lowly Washington State (10-15, 3-9 Pac-12) on Wednesday at 8 p.m. before a key, potential resume boosting matchup with Washington on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.