Colorado overcame a 10-point second half deficit and took control with a 29-8 surge Monday as the Buffaloes collected a 75-66 win over Pacific at the CU Events Center.

Tad Boyle's Buffs improved to 6-2 while Pacific dropped to 5-5.

CU's Trevor Baskin flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Andrej Jakimovski led CU with 17 points, RJ Smith had eight points and seven boards and Bangot Dak had seven points, six assists and four blocks.

Elias Ralph led Pacific with 24 points.

The Buffs fell behind by 11 in the first half, thanks to a 15-0 Pacific run that saw the Tigers hit six straight shots while the Buffaloes missed 10 in a row. CU managed to briefly cut the deficit to four but trailed by nine at the break, 38-29, after the Tigers finished the half with a 5-0 run.

Colorado shot just 10-for-31 in the first half while the Tigers were 14-for-29. Pacific also held a 24-8 edge in the paint in the opening 20 minutes.

But the Buffs finally found their defense while also revving up their offense following the break. After Pacific took a 48-38 lead, the Buffs put together a 15-2 run to take their first lead since early in the game, 53-50, with 11 minutes to play.

Pacific managed to keep it close over the next four minutes before CU finally took firm control, using a 10-0 run to take a 67-56 lead, part of the decisive 29-8 run.

Colorado then held the Tigers at bay over the final minutes for the win.

CU finished shooting just 42 percent (25-for-59) from the floor but the Buffs did hit nine of their 21 3-point tries. After their hot first half, the Tigers finished just 23-for-63 from the floor, including a 9-for-34 effort in the second half.

Pacific did have a 41-40 edge on the board, including 14 offensive rebounds, and also had a 38-30 edge in the paint.

The Buffs returned home from the Maui Invitational, where they played three games in three days, on Thanksgiving. The hangover of the trip was evident in the first half.

"That's not an excuse, but it's a fact, and we've got to be mentally tougher," Boyle said. "It's the mental toughness that we lack right now on the defensive end of the floor. It just is. They (the Tigers) were shooting 80% at the first media timeout. We just had no resistance, there was no pressure … But we did a better job in the second half. We had 20 assists and 10 turnovers, two to one, which is fantastic."

HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado trailed by nine at the break, 38-29, after a poor first half on both ends of the floor.

But the CU defense finally kicked in after halftime. The Buffs got two buckets from Elijah Malone and a Jakimovski 3-pointer to start the half before cutting the deficit to five, 43-38, on a pair of Assane Diop free throws.

Pacific momentarily pushed its lead back to 10 with a quick 5-0 run but the Buffs then put together a 15-2 run to take their first lead since early in the game.

Smith started the run with a 3-pointer, followed by a Dak block on the defensive end that led to a Harrison Carrington dunk.

Carrington, a former walkon, finished with six points and four rebounds.

"I thought Harrison gave us great minutes," Boyle said. "We needed his minutes tonight because some of the other guys weren't playing up to their ability."

CU's 5-0 burst sparked a Pacific timeout and a Tigers bucket after the break, but the Buffs then continued their run. Malone scored inside, Jakimovski converted a three-point play and another Smith 3-pointer at the 11:22 mark gave Colorado a 51-50 lead, CU's first since an 8-7 edge in the first half.

Smith scored again after a Pacific miss to give the Buffs a three-point cushion and the two teams traded buckets on the next six possessions, leaving CU with a 57-56 edge with 7:40 to play.

The Buffs then took control with a 9-0 surge, fueled by Baskin. The grad transfer tallied a transition dunk and three free throws, then notched his seventh assist of the night with a pass inside to Malone. Dak completed the run with a dunk to give CU an 10-point edge, 66-56, with five minutes to play.

Dak then added a free throw after a timeout to give Colorado its biggest lead of the game, 67-56, as CU's turnaround run hit 29-8.

Pacific's Elijah Fisher finally stopped the run with a three-point play but the Buffs kept the Tigers at bay over the final two minutes to collect the win.

Now, the Buffs will prepare for Saturday's home showdown with in-state rival Colorado State (6 p.m., ESPN+).

"We're gonna take (Tuesday) off, but we're gonna have three good practices," Boyle said. "Because if we play like this on Saturday night, we'll lose the game." 

Colorado opened the game on a hot note as the Buffs hit their first three shots, including 3-pointers from Jakimovski and Julian Hammond III, to take an early 8-4 lead.

But things went south for Colorado in a hurry. The Buffs went cold on offense, missing their next 10 shots, and were equally inefficient on defense. That opened the door for a 15-0 Pacific run that included a 6-for-6 stretch from the floor for the Tigers, giving Pacific a 19-8 lead with 12:55 still to play in the first half.

Sebastian Rancik finally ended Colorado's nearly six-minute scoring drought with a 3-pointer but that didn't immediately cure the Buffs' woes. Pacific built its cushion back to 11 before finally began to chip away at the deficit.

Colorado pulled to within five on a pair of Hammond free throws, then cut the Pacific lead to four, 33-29, on a Jakimovski 3-pointer with 3 minutes left in the half.

But the Buffs again went cold, coming up empty on six straight possessions to end the half while Pacific went on a 5-0 run in the final three minutes to take a 38-29 lead into the break.

DECISIVE MOMENT: After falling behind by 10 in the second half, the Buffs used a 15-2 run to take the lead and never trailed again.

WHAT IT MEANS: Colorado is now 132-41 in non-conference regular season games under Boyle, including a 100-8 record in non-conference home games.

KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs held Pacific to 9-for-34 shooting in the second half while CU shot 15-for-28 from the floor.

NEXT UP: The Buffs play host to in-state rival Colorado State on Saturday in a 6 p.m. game at the CU Events Center (ESPN+).