Colorado Basketball Beats Abilene Christian in Season Opener

The Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team got off to a great start in the 2026-27 season, defeating the Abilene Christian Wildcats 94-59 at the CU Event Center.

Jalin Holland finished with a career-high 18 points and six rebounds to lead the Buffs. After a tough first half, Colorado started to pull away after halftime and outscored ACU 58-25 on its way to securing the first win of the season.

"I asked our players in the locker room after the game what the difference they thought was defensively, first half, second half, and the bottom line is they said we imposed our will," CU head coach Tad Boyle said after the game.

Besides Holland, four Buffs finished in double figures. Josiah Sanders and Justin Neely added 14 points each, Barrington Hargress chipped in 11 and Noah Feddersen had 10.

Colorado was dominant on both ends of the court in the second half, shooting 75.9% from the floor while holding the Wildcats to just 31.3% from the floor. The Buffs also held a 39-24 advantage in rebounds against ACU on the night.

The Buffs needed every bit of momentum in the first half, especially toward the end. ACU went on an offensive run late in the first 20 minutes, grabbing its first lead of the game with under a minute left. With seven seconds left in the period, Hargress hit a three-pointer as CU seized the lead right back at 36-34.

After the break, Colorado's offense started to wake up. They quickly jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first five minutes of the half. From that point on, the offensive outburst was on full display. The Buffs maintained a double-digit lead and coasted the rest of the way. This was a tale of two halves with CU only missing seven shots after halftime. This was a solid win for Boyle and his staff.

Timeo Pons led ACU with 13 points in a losing effort. He was one of three Wildcats players in double figures. Willan Marie-Anais and Evan Boisdur each had 11 points. One wild stat from this game came in the second half. ACU shot 0 of 12 from 3-point range after halftime. They were 4 of 20 for the game. On the other hand, Colorado went 10 of 19 from beyond the arc.

The Buffs picked up an 11th straight season-opening victory. Under Boyle, the Buffaloes are now 15-2 in season openers and 42-5 since 1980-81. Colorado travels to San Diego to take on San Diego State in the Bill Walton Classic on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 3:30 p.m. ET at the Pechanga Arena.