Kansas State Vs Colorado: Colorado scores last 6 points to win 79-70 in Boulder

Kansas State Vs Colorado ended with the Buffaloes scoring the final six points to pull away for a 79-70 victory, a finish that preserved Colorado’s momentum at home and left the Wildcats still searching for stability under interim leadership. The result matters now because it highlights Colorado’s ability to close games and comes while Kansas State navigates a coaching transition and uneven offensive nights from its leading scorer.

Kansas State Vs Colorado: late surge in Boulder decides game

Colorado delivered the decisive sequence down the stretch, scoring the game’s last six points to turn a one-possession contest into a nine-point final margin, 79-70. The Buffaloes leaned on balanced scoring; Bangot Dak finished as the team’s leading scorer with 17 points, and Barrington Hargress added 16. That contribution for Hargress moved him to 3-0 at home in February and 12-4 on the season in the contexts referenced by the team’s recent home play.

The closing run effectively prevented Kansas State from mounting a comeback late, an outcome magnified by the Wildcats’ recent turbulence. Kansas State entered the matchup with an 11-16 record overall and a 2-12 mark in Big 12 play while operating under interim coach Matthew Driscoll after the program dismissed Jerome Tang on February 15 following postgame comments tied to a February 11 loss. The coaching change has produced immediate tweaks—Driscoll said the staff would be different while maintaining the program’s core approach—and the team’s results have varied, with Driscoll’s debut featuring a 90-74 victory that snapped a six-game losing streak.

P. J. Haggerty and Matthew Driscoll: adjustments, missed shots and consequences

P. J. Haggerty, the nation’s No. 3 scorer at 23. 5 points per game in the material provided, had an off night that influenced Kansas State’s offensive ceiling. Haggerty went 7 of 17 from the field and finished with 17 points in a performance identified as one of his lowest in Big 12 play. Interim coach Matthew Driscoll framed that outing as evidence that Haggerty is not invulnerable to tough defensive nights: he noted Haggerty normally shoots around 50-52 percent from the field and typically scores between 20 and 25 points, sometimes surging to 35 on a strong night.

That drop in efficiency mattered because it removed a reliable scoring engine from the Wildcats’ late-game options. Driscoll’s recent changes—described as minor strategic adjustments—followed a rough 100-72 defeat at No. 13 Texas Tech and came after his team had split the two games since the coaching change. The combination of a leading scorer held under his usual standards and a program in transition created the opening Colorado exploited in the final minutes.

What makes this notable is how the Buffaloes’ finish exposed the Wildcats’ thin margin for error: a single off night from Kansas State’s primary scorer, when paired with Colorado’s sustained home energy, directly produced the closing sequence that decided the outcome.

Colorado’s home energy and postseason implications

Colorado entered the game carrying a February stretch that showed some steadiness—3-3 in the month in the material provided—and arrived with national metrics placing the program in the middle tier: No. 69 in the NET rankings and No. 76 in the Wins Above Bubble (WAB) figure cited for the team. The Buffaloes’ home win against Oklahoma State earlier in the period, an 83-69 result, illustrated that the program can generate a boost from its venue; Hargress emphasized the team felt energy at home and focused on protecting home-court advantage.

By closing with a six-point run and securing the 79-70 final, Colorado protected that advantage in a contest that could have swung the other way had Kansas State’s adjustments produced a more efficient evening for its leading scorer. The win keeps the Buffaloes positioned to rely on home performance as they conclude conference play, while the Wildcats confront immediate questions about how incremental strategic shifts under Driscoll will translate into consistent results.