Houston Cougars Beat Colorado Buffaloes With NCAA Tournament Implications

The Colorado Buffaloes season came to an end at the hands of the Houston Cougars in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament on Thursday. No. 16 seeded Colorado pulled off back to back upsets in the first and second rounds with wins over the No. 9 seed TCU Horned Frogs and No. 8 West Virginia Mountaineers.

Houston put an end to any Colorado NCAA Tournament dreams. The Buffaloes finished the year with a disappointing season with a record of 14-20 overall and 3-17 in Big 12 play.

Second Half

Houston 77, Colorado 68: End of Game.

Houston 75, Colorado 66: Colorado still fighting, down nine with 1:11 to go.

Houston 72, Colorado 60: Buffs bucket to trim lead to 12 with 2:29 to go.

Houston 72, Colorado 58: Another three from Uzan. May be some early onions. 3:45 to go.

Houston 69, Colorado 58: Big Houston three from Uzan gets the lead back to 11.

Houston 65, Colorado 56: A score, stop, and a score to cut the lead back down to single digits with 6:42 to go!

Houston 64, Colorado 51: With 7:30 to go, Colorado needs to make up 13 points or their season will be over.

Houston 60, Colorado 50: Jakimovski again from deep to cut the lead to 10.

Houston 59, Colorado 45: Under 12 media timeout with Buffs down 14. It's going to take a three point flurry to overcome that vs. the Houston defense.

Houston 53, Colorado 43: The teams are shooting a combined 20 for 20 from the free throw line with 13 minutes remaining.

Houston 48, Colorado 41: Roberts injury update is a sprained ankle. He went to the locker room briefly, but is now back on Cougars bench in his full uniform.

Houston 48, Colorado 39: Buffs still hanging around as the under 16 media timeout hits.

Houston 44, Colorado 35: Roberts leaves game for Houston with injury.

First Half

Houston 38, Colorado 33: Jakimovski keeping Colorado in it with his scoring. Leading the Buffs with 16 points as the first half comes to a close.

Houston 38, Colorado 30: Buffaloes have to do a better jon on Sharpe. He's knocked down 4/6 three pointers.

Houston 35, Colorado 27: Sharp three out of the break for Houston to stop the bleeding.

Houston 32 Colorado 27: Buffs showing some life on both sides of the floor as the first half winds down. 8-0 run cuts lead down to five points. Kelvin Sampson not happy on the Cougars sideline and calls timeout with 3:41 to go in the first half.

Houston 28, Colorado 19: Sebastian Rancik goes down hard and exits the game with an injury. Was helped off by two others. Can't exactly tell what part of his body was injured, but he was having trouble walking.

Houston 28, Colorado 17: Buffs cut it to single digits, but only for a few seconds as Houston immediately gets a layup at the other end.

Houston 26, Colorado 15: Headed into a media break with 7:54 to go in the first half with Colorado down 11.

Houston 26, Colorado 12: Turnover, missed shot, turnover, on repeat for Colorado's offense right now.

Houston 21, Colorado 10: At long last the scoring drought is over with a Baskin and-one.

Houston 21, Colorado 7: Boyle calls timeout after Houston extends their lead to 14. Cougars on a 12-0 run. Buffaloes have not scored a point in nearly five minutes.

Houston 19, Colorado 7: 10-0 Houston run after a pair of free throws. Not good.

Houston 17, Colorado 7: 8-0 Houston run.

Houston 15, Colorado 7: Cougars getting to the cup now. Six straight points in the paint.

Houston 11, Colorado 7: Under 16 media timeout after a Juwan Roberts bucket.

Houston 9, Colorado 5: Cougars points all from deep at the 16:45 mark.

Houston 6, Colorado 2: Colorado's Dak gets the scoring going with the floater. Houston responds with back to back three-pointers.

PREGAME

quarterfinals on deck.

🆚 Houston
🕐 1pm MT
📺 ESPN2
📍 Kansas City, MO pic.twitter.com/psI0IAUi9h
— Colorado Men's Basketball (@CUBuffsMBB) March 13, 2025

Everything you want to know ahead of TODAY's 2 pm Phillips 66 @Big12Conference Championship Quarterfinal vs (16) Colorado#ForTheCity x #GoCoogs pic.twitter.com/pJWOucQBlw
— Houston Men's Hoops 🏀 🐾 (@UHCougarMBK) March 13, 2025

Houston earned a double bye and will be in action for the first time this tournament. The Cougars won the Big 12 regular season title for the second straight year. They completely dominated the rest of the conference and finished four games above the second place Texas Tech Red Raiders. Houston lost just one conference game and finished with a Big 12 record of 19-1 while being 27-4 overall.

Houston is currently is in thick of the race for one of the No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. A loss to Colorado on Thursday could put that in jeopardy.

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Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinals

Mar 12, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes bench reacts after a play during the second half against the West Virginia Mountaineers at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

There are four Big 12 tournament quarterfinal games that will take place on Thursday. The first game of the day will be between the No. 4 seed BYU Cougars and No. 5 seed Iowa State Cyclones. The winner of this game will take on the winner of the No. 16 seeded Colorado Buffaloes and the No. 1 seeded Houston Cougars in the semifinals.

Later in the night, the bottom portion of the bracket will get underway. The No. 2 seed Texas Tech Red Raiders play the No. 7 seeded Baylor Bears, with the winner seeing either the No. 3 seeded Arizona Wildcats or the No. 6 seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the second semifinal matchup.

Big 12 Teams Currently In NCAA Tournament Field

Mar 8, 2025; Waco, Texas, USA; Houston Cougars forward J'Wan Roberts (13) controls the ball as Baylor Bears guard Langston Love (13) defends during the second half at Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Heading into Thursday's action, the Big 12 has eight teams in the projected NCAA Tournament field according to ESPN bracketologist, Joe Lunardi.

Lunardi has Houston as a No. 1 seed, Texas Tech as a No. 2 seed, Iowa State as a No. 3 seed, Arizona as a No. 5 seed, BYU as a No. 5 seed, Kansas as a No. 6 seed, Baylor as a No. 10 seed, and West Virginia as a No. 10 seed.

The only Big 12 team Lunardi considers to be on the bubble is West Virginia after thier loss to Colorado on Wednesday. The Mountaineers are in Lunardi's "Last four byes." Meaning they likely should be okay on selection Sunday, but if there are bid stealers in other conferences, it will be scary hours in Morgantown.