Arizona’s freshman duo of Koa Peat and Brayden Burries combined for 56 points on 21-of-31 shooting from the field and led the Wildcats to an 89-79 victory over Colorado on Saturday night at Boulder, Colo.
Arizona (29-2, 16-2 Big 12) set the program record for most wins in a regular season.
Burries had 22 of his career-high 31 points in the second half and Peat finished with 25 points.
Burries also produced a career-high five steals.
Motiejus Krivas, Tobe Awaka and Ivan Kharchenkov each had 10 points.
Colorado’s Isaiah Johnson broke the program’s freshman scoring record, scoring a career-high 28 points to put him at 526 points. Alec Burks had the previous record of 512 points in 2009-10.
Barrington Hargress had 13 points and Jalin Holland finished with 12 points and five rebounds for Colorado (17-14, 7-11).
Arizona built a 73-64 lead with 7:15 remaining behind a 12-2 run that included 3-pointers by Burries and Dwayne Aristode and two layups by Awaka.
The layups by Awaka were symbolic for how Arizona exploited Colorado inside in the second half.
Awaka, Krivas and Peat combined for 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
Kharchenkov also penetrated the lane that helped him score eight points after halftime.
The 54-26 scoring edge for Arizona in the paint forced Colorado coach Tad Boyle to go to a 2-3 zone in the last 5 minutes of the game. Despite the zone, Arizona continued to convert in the lane. When that was not happening, Burries and Co. were stealing the ball and converting fast-break layups.
For the first time this season, Arizona never led in the first half.
The Wildcats tied the game four times in the first half, the last on a jumper by Peat that made the score 14-14 with 13:14 left until halftime.
Colorado then outscored Arizona 12-4, limiting the Wildcats to one field goal over a 5-minute stretch.
Arizona cut the lead to 26-23 with 6:46 remaining in the half, but Colorado responded with a 10-2 run.
Consecutive 3-point shots by Malone and Johnson put Colorado ahead 36-25 with 4:21 left in the half.
Arizona then closed the half on an 11-2 run, preventing a made shot from the field over the last 4:21, to go into halftime trailing 38-36.
Colorado missed its last five shots in the half, while Arizona converted three of its last four attempts.
The Wildcats took their first lead of the game with 16:59 left, when Kharchenkov made a layup to put Arizona ahead 48-46.
An 8-0 run gave Arizona its biggest lead, at that point, of 51-46 with 16:01 remaining.
Colorado outscored the Wildcats 8-1 behind three consecutive jumpers by Dak to retake the lead, 54-52, with 13:21 left.
Dak had to sit after picking up his fourth foul with 12:44 remaining.
He fouled out with 1:16 left after Arizona build an 82-74 lead.
Arizona, the regular-season Big 12 champs, will next play in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament at Kansas City on Thursday after earning a double bye.
They will await either No. 16 Utah, No. 9 Cincinnati or No. 8 UCF.
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