Buffaloes’ Youth Movement Hits a Wall in Waco as Baylor Rolls
WACO, Texas - After a promising shake-up in Fort Worth, Colorado’s freshman-heavy starting lineup ran into a buzzsaw in Waco.
Two games into head coach Tad Boyle’s lineup experiment, the early momentum fizzled hard. The same group of rookies that helped snap a six-game skid with an energetic win over TCU couldn’t replicate the magic against a sharp Baylor squad, falling 86-67 in a game that exposed CU’s defensive vulnerabilities from the jump.
Boyle rolled out the same youthful starting five - freshmen Isaiah Johnson, Josiah Sanders, Jalin Holland, and Tacko Ifaola, alongside sophomore guard Barrington Hargress - hoping to tap into the same spark that fueled Sunday’s win. But this time, the fire never caught. Baylor came out swinging and never let up, dictating the pace and exploiting Colorado’s lapses on both ends of the floor.
And while the starting unit struggled, this loss wasn’t solely on the young guns. The veterans couldn’t provide a lift either.
“I don’t give a (expletive) who starts,” Boyle said postgame, clearly frustrated. “I want to see who’s ready to play. And tonight, we didn’t have anybody ready to play on the defensive end of the floor.”
That blunt assessment summed it up. Colorado was flat defensively, and the Bears took full advantage. After showing flashes of cohesion and energy against TCU, CU looked disjointed - slow on rotations, late on closeouts, and soft at the rim.
The drop-off was especially noticeable from forwards Bangot Dak and Sebastian Rancik, who had answered the call off the bench in Fort Worth. Against TCU, the pair combined to shoot 13-for-16 in what was arguably their best collective performance in weeks.
But at Baylor, the impact vanished. Dak pulled down a team-high six rebounds but struggled to finish inside, going just 2-for-8 from the field and failing to register a block for the third straight game.
Rancik, meanwhile, had one of his quietest nights of the season - 1-for-5 shooting, five points (all in garbage time), no rebounds, and one assist. It marked the first time since the opener that he didn’t grab a single board.
“I thought they played with great energy defensively against TCU,” Boyle said. “I didn’t see that as much tonight.
Understood the game plan a little better against TCU. Didn’t see that tonight.
Again, it’s not about who starts for us.”
That message has been consistent from Boyle - it’s not about who hears their name called at tip-off, it’s about who brings it when the ball goes up. But on Wednesday night, no one in black and gold seemed ready to answer that call.
Notable Nuggets from Waco
- Center Elijah Malone was a DNP (coach’s decision) for the first time in his CU career. He missed one game last season due to injury, but this was the first time he was healthy and sat.
- Free throws, once a strength, have suddenly become a problem. Colorado had been leading the Big 12 in free throw percentage for much of the season but has slipped to second - and the last two games haven’t helped. The Buffs are just 22-for-36 (.611) from the stripe over that stretch.
- The Buffs’ 21-point first half was their lowest scoring output in any half this season. Their previous low was 25 points in the first half at Cincinnati on Jan. 14.
- Guard Felix Kossaras, who started CU’s first 17 games, saw just 2 minutes and 12 seconds of action - a season low.
- One bright spot: freshman Ian Inman made the most of his extended run. Inman logged a season-high 11:18 and scored a season-best 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting. Most of that came with the game out of reach, but it was a glimpse of potential from a young player trying to earn more minutes.
What’s Next for the Buffs?
After the TCU win, it looked like Colorado might be turning a corner. But the Baylor game was a reminder that growth - especially with a youth movement - isn’t linear. There are going to be bumps, and Wednesday night was a big one.
Boyle’s challenge now is figuring out which pieces are committed to defending, competing, and executing - regardless of age or experience. Because in the Big 12, anything less than full effort on both ends will get exposed quickly.
The Buffs have talent. But talent without toughness doesn’t win road games in February.