BOULDER — Colorado was handed a tall, heaping glass of reality check. That’s what happened in the first 26 minutes, at least.

After taking a 24-point lead just six minutes into the second half, No. 14 Texas Tech was on the way to a blowout win and one that reminded Tad Boyle’s team there are levels to this.

But, then a switch flipped. 

In the final 13 minutes, the Buffaloes came to life. So did the more than 8,000 in attendance at the CU Events Center. 

The Buffaloes rallied all the way back and had a chance to win it in the dying moments, but Barrington Hargress’ 3-pointer rimmed out at the final buzzer and the Red Raiders (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) held on for a 73-71 victory that gives Boyle’s team (12-4, 2-1) its first Big 12 loss of the season.

“Don’t give up on this team,” Boyle grabbed the mic and told the fans as they headed for the exits. “We’ll be back.”

Boyle wants more nights like this in Boulder. It had all the makings of a game to remember.

New athletic director Fernando Lovo kept good on his promise and joined a rowdy student section. The program honored Alec Burks for his long NBA career and added his No. 10 jersey to the Wall of Honor. Shoot, even Nuggets front office head Ben Tenzer showed up to check out the future NBA talent on the court.

Boyle just wished his team gave the CU fans a win to celebrate at the end.

“I’d love to have that one back, but life doesn’t work like that,” Boyle said. “I’m frustrated on two fronts. I’m frustrated that we didn’t treat our crowd to a better performance tonight. Now, the ones who stuck around saw a pretty good finish and a chance to win a big-time basketball game at the end. I’m frustrated that this is our 10th home game and this is the first time we’ve had a real home court advantage. 

“Why isn’t it like this every night?”

Boyle was asking a similar question about his team’s performance. Instead, he wondered why it took until the last 13 minutes to wake up. After Texas Tech took a 58-34 lead with 13:39 to go, the Buffs closed the game on a 37-15 run and had the Red Raiders begging for the final whistle.

“You felt it with our team,” TTU coach Grant McCasland said. 

CU forced six turnovers in the eight minutes and finally got the game at the pace it wanted to with several key Red Raiders on the bench with foul trouble. Freshman Isaiah Johnson erupted for 21 points, all in the second half, and plenty of others made timely baskets. But it was too little, too late.

‘It’s about energy and effort for 40 minutes and we have it in stretches,” Boyle said. “We gotta find a way to have it for 40 minutes. Our team has heart, our team is competitive. I found that out this summer when we went to Australia.”

That’s been the issue in three of the Buffs’ four losses now. Outside of the convincing defeat against Stanford in Phoenix, Boyle said the losses to Colorado State, Northern Colorado and now Texas Tech, have been on his team and the “lulls” that haunted them in each of those games.

“Good teams can’t have those lulls,” Boyle said. “We can’t wait until a media timeout, we can’t wait until halftime, we can’t wait until the film session the next day. We gotta do it as it’s happening and we’re not doing that.”

The Buffs knew this is when the hard part was going to begin, though. They knew they weren’t exactly playing the Big 12’s best in their first two games against Arizona State and Utah. But Texas Tech might not even be a top-four team in the conference right now. The likes of Arizona, BYU, Houston and Iowa State all still await. Plus, CU has a return trip to Lubbock next month.

That’s not even counting next week’s road trip to the Eastern time zone where the Buffs will face both Cincinnati and West Virginia.

That’s why this one stings so badly. Yes, the Buffs had a shot to win it in the end, but Boyle believes his team shouldn’t have needed such a furious rally to get back in the game in the first place. It’s plays at the end of the first half and to start the second half that stick with him even more than the ones in the final minute.

Don’t try to tell him this was a moral victory, either. 

“If we win, it’s a building block. If we lose, we don’t get any credit for that. College basketball doesn’t work like that,” Boyle said. “It’s not the end. It’s coming out of halftime. It’s the end of the first half. Two really bad offensive possessions at the end of the first half cost us five points. That’s what our players have to understand. Those two plays are just as important as the plays down the stretch. We haven’t figured that out yet. We have to start learning and it better start quick.”

GAME RECAP

No. 14 Texas Tech 73, Colorado 71

What happened: The Buffaloes (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would’ve capped an epic comeback in a game they trailed by as many as 24 points. Instead, the Red Raiders (12-4, 2-1) got to breathe a sigh of relief and leave Boulder with the win in which four of their five starters dealt with foul trouble. TTU’s starters scored 66 of the team’s points. 

Star of the night: CU freshman Isaiah Johnson continues to find ways to take over games in the second half. After being held scoreless in the first 20 minutes, the young guard from Southern California scored all 21 of his points in the final 20 minutes, shooting a perfect 13 of 13 from the free throw line in the process. 

Quotable: “I agree with coach Boyle. There’s no moral victories here. The one thing we did show is that the team that we can be when we play 40 minutes of good Colorado basketball will speak very loudly. We’ll be a very good team and we’ll be able to play with the best teams in this league. That’s definitely who we are.” — Buffs junior point guard Barrington Hargress 

Up next: CU hits the road for a pair of games in the Eastern time zone. The Buffs play Cincinnati on Wednesday (5 p.m. Peacock) before facing West Virginia next Saturday (4 p.m. CBS Sports Network). Their next home game comes on Tuesday, Jan. 20 against Kansas (9 p.m. ESPN).