Colorado gets another home test Tuesday night, and this one comes with a familiar face on the other sideline.
The Buffaloes host San Diego at 7:01 p.m. MT at the CU Events Center in Boulder, looking to bounce back after a 77-66 loss to San Diego State in the National University Bill Walton Classic on Nov.
- Colorado opened the season with a 94-59 win over Abilene Christian on Nov. 2, leaving the Buffs at 1-1 heading into Game 3.
Barrington Hargress has been the engine early. The fifth-year guard poured in 33 points against San Diego State, the highest total of his Colorado career and the second-best scoring night of his college run.
He previously scored 40 for UC Riverside against UC San Diego on Jan. 18, 2025.
Hargress also reached 30 points for the fifth time in his career and the second time in a CU uniform after putting up 31 against Oklahoma in last season’s College Basketball Crown. He has now posted at least 20 points in six games as a Buffalo and 25 times overall, while also tying his career high with five 3-pointers for the third time.
Through two games, Hargress is averaging 22.0 points and has shot 52 percent from the field and 62 percent from beyond the arc. He scored 11 in the opener.
Colorado has also gotten steady production from Jalin Holland and Josiah Sanders. Holland, a second-year guard, is averaging 12.0 points and leads the team with four steals.
He set career highs with 18 points, eight field goals and 12 attempts against Abilene Christian, while also grabbing six rebounds. That was his fourth career double-figure scoring game and his second time leading CU in scoring.
Sanders is right behind him at 11.0 points per game. He put up career bests with 14 points, eight free throws made and nine attempts against Abilene Christian, and he has already made 10 of 11 free throws this season after shooting 51.9 percent from the line a year ago. He made both of his attempts against San Diego State.
The Buffaloes have also gotten useful early minutes from several others. Sixth-year forward Justin Neely made his first CU start against San Diego State and is averaging 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 54.5 percent.
Ian Inman made his second career start in the opener and responded with nine points, three assists and his first collegiate block. Noah Feddersen had 10 points, five rebounds and a block against Abilene Christian in his 100th career game, and he crossed 500 career rebounds in that contest with 501.
He now sits 163 points shy of 1,000 for his career.
First-year guard Alex Dickeson has been all over the stat sheet through two games, leading Colorado with 11 rebounds and seven assists while averaging 7.5 points. In his debut, he posted nine points, five rebounds and a team-high six assists. Against San Diego State, he matched the team lead with six rebounds and added six points.
San Diego arrives unbeaten at 2-0 after home wins over Biola, 79-62 on Nov. 2, and Tarleton State, 96-90 in overtime on Nov. 6.
The Toreros had to claw back against Tarleton State, with senior guard Dusty Stromer banking in a 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer to force overtime after San Diego erased a 15-point deficit. Stromer finished with 22 points in that game and leads USD at 17.0 points per contest.
Marqui Worthy and Davion Hill are both averaging 12.5 points, and Hill has added four assists per game while going a perfect 11 for 11 at the line.
As a team, San Diego has been efficient at the stripe, making 51 of 62 free throws for .823. The Toreros are also plus-7.5 on the glass through two games and are averaging 7.0 steals per contest.
JR Blount is in his first season as San Diego’s head coach, and he knows the Colorado program well. Before taking over at USD, Blount spent five years as an assistant at Iowa State from 2021-26 and three seasons as an assistant at Colorado State from 2018-21.
Tuesday’s matchup is the eighth meeting between Colorado and San Diego, with the Buffaloes holding a 4-3 edge in the series. The teams last met in a three-game stretch from 2017-19, when San Diego won the first two before Colorado took the most recent matchup, 71-53, in Boulder on Nov.
16, 2019. The Buffaloes have won three of the four all-time meetings at the CU Events Center.
Colorado assistant coach Bill Grier also has deep ties to the Toreros. He coached San Diego for eight seasons from 2007-15, winning 117 games and guiding the program to the 2008 West Coast Conference Tournament title and its only NCAA Tournament victory, a first-round upset of No. 4 seed Connecticut.
During his time there, Grier also led USD to six wins over top 25 teams, including a victory at Kentucky in Rupp Arena, and collected eight All-West Coast Conference selections and nine WCC All-Academic Team nods. He finished with a 117-144 record and 51 conference wins, which ranks 24th in WCC history.
In Other News...
Colorados 2027 Class Just Raised A Bigger Concern For Buffs Fans
Colorados 2027 recruiting picture took a hit when four-star offensive tackle LiMarcus Jones backed off his pledge and chose Mississippi State instead. Jones, who had been part of the Buffaloes class, announced the move on social media after what he described as personal reflection and conversations with his family, a reminder that even early-cycle commitments can shift quickly in the modern recruiting game.
For Colorado, the loss stings because Jones brought real national profile to the class as the No. 389 overall player and No. 39 offensive tackle in the 247Sports composite. Offensive line recruiting is always under a microscope, and when a prospect with that kind of ranking changes course, it naturally raises questions about how stable the Buffs 2027 foundation will be as the cycle keeps unfolding. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Recruiting Suddenly Has A Deion Sanders Problem
Colorados 2027 recruiting class has taken a hit late in the cycle, with three verbal commits backing away from their pledges in recent days. Three-star tackle LiMarcus Jones has already flipped to Mississippi State, while linebacker Jahmiere Portis-Daniels and wide receiver Ryan Ferdinand also moved on, leaving the Buffaloes to sort through an unsettling stretch on the trail as signing day approaches.
For a program that has leaned so heavily on momentum and visibility under Deion Sanders, the timing makes this a notable test. Sanders has acknowledged the situation, but he says his focus remains on the players in the building rather than any concerns about job security, a stance that only sharpens the attention on how Colorado responds from here and whether the staff can steady the class before more damage is done. [Read more 🡒]
Gideon Lamprons Rise Gives Colorado One Big Defensive Question
Gideon Lampron has become one of the most important defensive developments in Colorados season, and his latest outing only strengthened that case. The linebacker has raised his tackle total in every game this year, and after the Arizona State game he sits atop the Big 12 in tackles and tackles for loss, production that has given the Buffaloes a much-needed anchor in the middle of the defense.
Lamprons emergence has come as Colorado has needed answers after Tyler Martinez went down with an injury, and the rise has been impossible to ignore inside the program. Deion Sanders has already singled him out for praise, and now the bigger question is how Colorado manages the rest of the season with Lampron playing at this level and the rest of the defense trying to keep pace. [Read more 🡒]