BOULDER, Colo. _ This time Washington didn't blow a big lead in the final minutes.
Instead, the Huskies stumbled at the start, fell behind by 18 points in the first half and never mounted much of a comeback against No. 23 Colorado before falling, 76-62, Saturday at CU Events Center.
The Huskies (12-9, 2-6 Pac-12) are mired in a midseason slump in which they've lost seven of their past nine games.
Saturday night, all of UW's frustrations bubbled to the surface during a mistake-prone performance that included three technical fouls, two blown dunks and 20 turnovers.
Washington was unable to overcome so many miscues against Colorado (16-4, 4-2), which controlled the game with a balanced scoring attack.
Tyler Bey scored 16 points to lead three Buffaloes in double-digit scoring including McKinley Wright IV (15) and Lucas Siewert (12).
The Huskies countered with a three-man attack of Isaiah Stewart, RaeQuan Battle and Nahziah Carter who peppered CU inside and outside.
Stewart finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting, eight rebounds and four blocks. Carter canned all three of his 3-point attempts and tallied 12 points and six rebounds.
And Battle, who made his second start in place of Jaden McDaniels, scored 12 points on four 3-pointers � all in the first half.
McDaniels, who was apparently benched for picking up a technical foul in the game Thursday at Utah, sat out for the first 2 { minutes before entering the game Saturday.
However, he had just two points on 1-for-6 shooting and played just two minutes in the second half.
This game got away from Washington early.
After Wright sank a 3-pointer to put CU up 14-7 with 14:01 left in the first half, Washington coach Mike Hopkins verbally tore into the officials to complain about CU's physical defense and picked up a technical foul.
It was the second technical for Hopkins during his UW tenure and the first since 2018.
Siewert converted the ensuing two free throws and the Buffaloes sank three 3-pointers to pull ahead 27-11 with 10:26 left in the first half.
That's when Battle answered with a 3-point barrage of his own and canned a series of long-range daggers to keep things close. Battle and Carter hit back to back three-pointers that cut CU's lead to 39-31 with 3:43 left before the break.
However, the Buffaloes finished the first half with a 12-2 run to take a 51-39 lead.
Washington never got closer than 10 points in a second half that included technical fouls on Battle and reserve center Bryan Penn-Johnson.
