Colorado Basketball earned an invaluable asset on Thursday night

Every day, the Colorado Buffaloes men’s basketball team sees the same saying sitting on the wall above them in the team film room.

“Respect cannot be learned, purchased or acquired, it can only be earned.”

Thursday night at the CU Events Center, the Buffs earned some respect.

The Buffs put the nation on notice, taking down the No. 4 Oregon Ducks 74-65. Colorado controlled the game from start to finish with the same dominating defensive effort that has become the calling card of these Buffaloes.

The win should put CU back into the AP Top 25—maybe even into its top half—but Thursday night wasn’t just about earning respect from sportswriters, Colorado had to earn respect from its fans.

Head coach Tad Boyle concluded his opening statement before the postgame press conference with a note to Buff Nation.

“Anybody that wasn’t at the game tonight, you missed a heck of a game,” Boyle said. “This Colorado basketball team is worthy of eight more games like the Event Center was tonight in terms of packed, enthusiastic.”

There weren’t many fans who missed the game.

A sellout crowd of 10,770 packed The Keg Thursday night, the largest since the Buffs played Arizona in 2016. While winter break left the crowd a little short for students, there was no shortage of stars.

Head football coach Mel Tucker sat courtside next to Pro-Bowl running back Phil Lindsay. Athletic director Rick George hung out nearby as well. Star wide receiver KD Nixon took pictures with fans after the game. Former Buffs basketball greats like Josh Scott, Ben Mills and Andre Roberson were in the house. Peggy and Betty, the 93-year-old twin superfans, found their way to the edge of the postgame mosh pit after the student section rushed the court.

Oh, and Bill Walton was on the call for ESPN.

“That’s Buff Nation,” point guard McKinley Wright IV said. “We’re a family, basketball, football, you know, Mel Tucker sees us front row every football game, so to see him front row tonight is big time. It’s just love both ways.”

The football crew was particularly fired up. Tucker heckled the refs after every wrong call—and some correct ones—and George was right there with him.

When Evan Battey lit up an Oregon guard with a clean screen in the second half, associate football athletic director Lance Carl gave him a standing ovation.

Whether Boyle built this defensive juggernaut of a team to please a Boulder crowd or whether he built it with a Pac-12 title in mind is irrelevant. He’s already checked the first box and the second is well within reach.

Having Buffs fans hooked should help with that.

“We need them,” Wright said of the crowd. “Not only do they intimidate the other team but they really get us going.”

Maybe nobody can attest to the might of Colorado’s crowd better than Oregon head coach Dana Altman. Since Colorado joined the Pac-12 in 2011, the Ducks have never won a game at the Events Center.

“We’ve won a lot of games but can’t find a way to win here,” Altman said. “We have a great team, it’s just a tough atmosphere.”

Next up for the Buffs is another home matchup, this time against Oregon State, Sunday at 4 p.m. It may not sound like the kind of draw that the No. 4 Ducks were, but as Boyle pointed out after the game, a bad loss cancels out a good win in a hurry.

“We were in the top 25 for a minute, had a couple of tough losses, we dropped out now we’ve been sniffing it back,” Boyle said. “We don’t get the respect but we have to earn that respect, you can’t beg for it. You can’t go buy it. You’ve just got to earn it. You earn it with these kinds of wins and playing consistent basketball.”