Takeaways From Colorado Men's Basketball's Needed Win Over Arizona State

BOULDER — Home or road, beating Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley will never get old for the Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team.

Just over one month after beating ASU in Tempe, Colorado completed a season sweep of the Sun Devils on Saturday via an impressive 78-70 win in Boulder. Colorado finally found some success on the boards and managed to ride the hot hands of Sebastian Rancik and Barrington Hargress.

Takeaways Colorado Men's Basketball Win Arizona State Sun Devils Buffs Tad Boyle Barrington Hargress Sebastian Rancik Big 12 — Feb 7, 2026; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes guard Barrington Hargress (24) shoots the ball in the second half against the Arizona State Sun Devils at the CU Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

"Coach emphasizes rebounding," Rancik said after his first career double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds). "Even in the NBA, they look at your ability to rebound in college, so it's important to put that into my game. As I showed today, I'm more than capable. I just got to stay consistent."

Colorado will spend this next week on the road with trips to No. 13 Texas Tech (Wednesday, 6 p.m. MT on ESPN+) and No. 16 BYU (Saturday, 2 p.m. MT on FS1).

Below are a few major takeaways from Colorado's Saturday night win over the Sun Devils:

Barrington Hargress Leads the Offensive Charge

Barrington Hargress' best performance in conference play was pure grit from start to finish. The UC Riverside transfer tied his overall season high with 23 points, led the Buffs with four assists and committed only one turnover.

"We kept on screening the zone, and it allowed us to get downhill," Hargress said of Colorado's approach to ASU's zone defense. "We were just allowing the defense to make that decision for us — if we were going to make the pull-up or kick it out to the guy in the corner."

Improved Rebounding

With help from a strong first-half defensive performance, Colorado had a decent night on the boards. Sebastian Rancik had a career-high 11 rebounds, Josiah Sanders pulled down six, including three offensive, and Colorado ultimately outrebounded the Sun Devils, 40-26.

Colorado coach Tad Boyle credited Sanders and his other guards for helping pick up the rebounding slack when forwards Bangot Dak and Fawaz "Tacko" Ifaola entered foul trouble.

"I thought our guards really did a good job of helping us rebound tonight," Boyle said. "We competed on the glass because we were out-sized there with a lot of our lineups, especially down the stretch when BD (Dak) was in foul trouble."

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Underappreciated Strength

Sure, Colorado has struggled in a few key areas this season, but the Buffs' low turnover numbers are a good sign, especially for a young team. Entering Saturday, Boyle's squad had committed the second-fewest turnovers per game in the Big 12 at 9.8.

Colorado marched to a similar tune against the Sun Devils, committing only a respectable 10 turnovers — three of which from Alon Michaeli.

"We took care of the ball, we made free throws," Boyle said. "It's encouraging to win close games with a young team because it's not easy to win games in this league, home or road."