# 2017–18 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team represented the University of Colorado in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by head coach Tad Boyle in his eighth season at Colorado. The Buffaloes played their home games at Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colorado as members of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 17–15, 8–10 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They defeated Arizona State in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Arizona.

## Previous season

The Buffaloes finished the 2016–17 season 19–15, 8–10 in Pac-12 play to finish in seventh place. They defeated Washington State in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Arizona. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to UCF.

## Off-season
### Departures

| Name | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Josh Fortune | G | 6'5" | 200 | RS Senior | Hampton, VA | Graduated |
| Wesley Gordon | F | 6'9" | 220 | RS Senior | Colorado Springs, CO | Graduated |
| Xavier Johnson | F | 6'7" | 225 | RS Senior | Los Angeles, CA | Graduated |
| Derrick White | G | 6'5" | 193 | RS Senior | Parker, CO | Graduated/2017 NBA draft |
| Thomas Akyazili | G | 6'2" | 180 | Sophomore | Antwerp, BE | Elected to transfer. |
| Bryce Peters | G | 6'4" | 190 | Freshman | La Puente, CA | Elected to transfer. |

### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| D'Shawn Schwartz SF | Colorado Springs, CO | Sand Creek HS | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 222 lb (101 kg) | Sep 10, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 83 ||||||
| Tyler Bey SF | Las Vegas, NV | Middlebrooks Academy | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Sep 10, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 76 ||||||
| Evan Battey PF | Los Angeles, CA | Villa Park HS | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 280 lb (130 kg) | Sep 27, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 82 ||||||
| Lazar Nikolic PG | Belgrade, Serbia | Stella Azzurra Academy | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Apr 19, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| McKinley Wright IV PG | Champlin, MN | Champlin Park HS | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | 177 lb (80 kg) | Apr 28, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 5, 2017. ||||||

### 2018 Recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2018 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Daylen Kountz SG | Denver, CO | East High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Sep 8, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: |||||||
| Elijah Parquet SG | Beaumont, TX | West Brook High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Sep 9, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: N/A |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2018 Colorado Commits". Rivals.com. "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. |||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Oct 30, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Colorado Mines | W 78–52 | – | Coors Events Center (1,112) Boulder, CO |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 6:00 pm, P12N | | Northern Colorado | W 66–51 | 1–0 | Coors Events Center (7,740) Boulder, CO |
| Nov 14, 2017* 7:00 pm, P12N | | Denver | W 89–62 | 2–0 | Coors Events Center (6,451) Boulder, CO |
| Nov 17, 2017* 3:30 pm | | vs. Quinnipiac Paradise Jam quarterfinals | W 70–69 | 3–0 | Vines Center (659) Lynchburg, VA |
| Nov 18, 2017* 6:30 pm | | vs. Drake Paradise Jam semifinals | W 86–81 | 4–0 | Vines Center (568) Lynchburg, VA |
| Nov 19, 2017* 6:30 pm | | vs. Mercer Paradise Jam championship | W 79–70 | 5–0 | Vines Center (568) Lynchburg, VA |
| Nov 26, 2017* 12:00 pm, P12N | | Air Force | W 81–69 | 6–0 | Coors Events Center (7,427) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 2, 2017* 11:00 AM, ATTSNRM | | at Colorado State | L 63–72 | 6–1 | Moby Arena (5,217) Fort Collins, CO |
| Dec 6, 2017* 7:00 pm, P12N | | New Mexico | W 75–57 | 7–1 | Coors Events Center (6,610) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 9, 2017* 3:00 pm, FS1 | | at No. 13 Xavier | L 69–96 | 7–2 | Cintas Center (10,228) Cincinnati, OH |
| Dec 12, 2017* 6:00 pm, P12N | | San Diego | L 59–69 | 7–3 | Coors Events Center (6,512) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 15, 2017* 6:00 pm, P12N | | South Dakota State | W 112–103 $^{2OT}$ | 8–3 | Coors Events Center (6,933) Boulder, CO |
| Dec 22, 2017* 7:00 pm, BTN | | vs. Iowa Sanford Pentagon Showcase | L 73–80 | 8–4 | Sanford Pentagon (3,250) Sioux Falls, SD |
| Pac-12 regular season ||||||
| Dec 29, 2017 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Oregon State | L 57–76 | 8–5 (0–1) | Gill Coliseum (4,481) Corvallis, OR |
| Dec 31, 2017 8:00 pm, P12N | | at Oregon | L 62–77 | 8–6 (0–2) | Matthew Knight Arena (7,458) Eugene, OR |
| Jan 4, 2018 6:30 pm, P12N | | No. 4 Arizona State | W 90–81 $^{OT}$ | 9–6 (1–2) | Coors Events Center (7,740) Boulder, CO |
| Jan 6, 2018 12:00 pm, P12N | | No. 14 Arizona | W 80–77 | 10–6 (2–2) | Coors Events Center (8,519) Boulder, CO |
| Jan 10, 2018 8:00 pm, FS1 | | at USC | L 58–70 | 10–7 (2–3) | Galen Center (3,669) Los Angeles, CA |
| Jan 13, 2018 8:30 pm, P12N | | at UCLA | W 68–59 | 11–7 (3–3) | Pauley Pavilion (10,164) Los Angeles, CA |
| Jan 18, 2018 6:00 pm, P12N | | Washington State | W 82–73 | 12–7 (4–3) | Coors Events Center (7,477) Boulder, CO |
| Jan 20, 2018 4:00 pm, P12N | | Washington | L 62–72 | 12–8 (4–4) | Coors Events Center (8,787) Boulder, CO |
| Jan 25, 2018 6:30 pm, FS1 | | at No. 11 Arizona | L 71–80 | 12–9 (4–5) | McKale Center (14,644) Tucson, AZ |
| Jan 27, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | at No. 21 Arizona State | L 66–80 | 12–10 (4–6) | Wells Fargo Arena (13,943) Tempe, AZ |
| Feb 2, 2018 7:00 pm, FS1 | | at Utah | W 67–55 | 13–10 (5–6) | Coors Events Center (7,645) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 7, 2018 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | California | W 68–64 | 14–10 (6–6) | Coors Events Center (6,385) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 11, 2018 2:00 pm, P12N | | Stanford | W 64–56 | 15–10 (7–6) | Coors Events Center (8,323) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 15, 2018 9:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington State | L 69–73 | 15–11 (7–7) | Beasley Coliseum (2,249) Pullman, WA |
| Feb 17, 2018 6:00 pm, P12N | | at Washington | L 59–82 | 15–12 (7–8) | Alaska Airlines Arena (9,258) Seattle, WA |
| Feb 21, 2018 8:30 pm, FS1 | | USC | L 64–75 | 15–13 (7–9) | Coors Events Center (7,008) Boulder, CO |
| Feb 25, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | UCLA | W 80–76 | 16–13 (8–9) | Coors Events Center (8,176) Boulder, CO |
| Mar 3, 2018 5:00 pm, P12N | | at Utah | L 54–64 | 16–14 (8–10) | Jon M. Huntsman Center Salt Lake City, UT |
| Pac-12 tournament ||||||
| Mar 7, 2018 1:00 pm, P12N | (8) | vs. (9) Arizona State First Round | W 97–85 | 17–14 | T-Mobile Arena (8,619) Paradise, NV |
| Mar 8, 2018 1:00 pm, P12N | (8) | vs. (1) No. 15 Arizona Quarterfinals | L 67–83 | 17–15 | T-Mobile Arena (15,182) Paradise, NV |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time. ||||||