Colorado 86, USC 65: Dustin Thomas scored a career-high 17 points and the host Buffaloes used a 14-0 run late in the first half to win their second consecutive Pac-12 contest.

Askia Booker scored 18 points with seven assists and Xavier Johnson added 17 points for Colorado (9-5, 2-0), which shot 7-of-15 from 3-point range. Thomas, starting for Josh Scott – who missed his second consecutive game with back spasms – made all three of his 3-point attempts and Jaron Hopkins contributed nine points and four steals.

USC (8-6, 0-2) played without leading scorer Jordan McLaughlin, who suffered a shoulder injury Friday against Utah, and never found a rhythm offensively. Nikola Jovanovic led the Trojans with 14 points and Julian Jacobs added 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but USC finished 4-of-20 from 3-point range.

The Trojans were within 29-24 on Malik Martin’s layup with just over six minutes remaining before intermission, but Hopkins scored five of the game’s next six points to spark 14 unanswered points for the Buffaloes. Wesley Gordon added two free throws and a jumper late in the surge, and Xavier Talton’s tip-in with 1:38 to go gave Colorado a 43-34 advantage.

The Buffaloes led 43-27 at the break and hit four 3-pointers in the opening four minutes of the second half, two from Thomas and one each from Booker and Johnson, to extend their lead to 55-33. Colorado led by as many as 24 before the Trojans whittled the gap to 67-53 on Jacobs’ basket with 5:53 to play before Booker scored nine of the Buffaloes' next 11 points.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Buffaloes have won six in a row against the Trojans. … USC finished 5-of-11 from the free-throw line and has yet to make more than 70.6 percent of its attempts in a game this season. … Colorado finished with 22 assists on 32 field goals.