Defeat at the MGM Grand Garden Arena is a second straight season-ender for Tad Boyle’s team.
In a reigniting of an old-school Big Eight rivalry, Colorado fell to tournament favorite Oklahoma in the opening round of the College Basketball Crown by a final of 90-86 in overtime on Wednesday evening, officially ending the 2025-26 season for the Buffaloes.
It’s the second year the new-look postseason tournament is being held in Las Vegas, with this year’s field reduced to eight teams vying for $500,000 in NIL money, with $300,000 to the winning, $100,000 to the runner-up and $50,000 each for the other two semifinalists.
All things considered, Boyle’s short-handed group put up a good fight against a Sooners team that was red hot, winning eight of its last 11 games including a solid showing in the SEC tournament.
The Buffs were without star freshman and leading scorer Isaiah Johnson, as well as promising forwards Sebastian Rancik and Bangot Dak, all of whom opted out of the tournament with their eyes on entering the transfer portal when it opens next Tuesday.
Junior point guard Barrington Hargress completed his first season at CU after transferring in from UC Riverside last offseason with his best performance in black and gold.
Hargress had a game-high 31 points on just 13 shots, going 15 for 16 from the free-throw line while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists.
He has already announced his intentions to finish his college career in Boulder and return for his senior season and Buffs got a good glimpse of what next year’s team could look like in Las Vegas.
In crunch time, Hargress was on the floor with four freshmen as they erased a seven-point deficit in the final two minutes to force overtime.
Israeli big man Alon Michaeli had 18 points and six rebounds off the bench in what was one of his better efforts in an overall solid freshman season, while sophomore guard Felix Kossaras scored 14 points despite spending the last few weeks of the regular season out of the rotation.
Even without three key starters, CU had a nine-man rotation against Oklahoma with eight of those players eligible to return next season.
The Buffs finish the campaign with a 17-16 record, a three-win improvement from a season ago and a winning record for the 14th time in Boyle’s 16 seasons, but it’s also the third time in the last four seasons the program has failed to reach 20 wins.
With three crucial pieces already headed out the door, the work begins now for Boyle and his staff to keep the remaining roster intact, while using a reportedly increased NIL budget to reinforce this young team after a second-straight season in the bottom half of the Big 12.