Fast break

Why the Buffs won: From the start, they were the more physical team, playing exceptional defense and dominating in rebounding.

Three stars:

1. CU’s Logyn Greer: The freshman finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots, the most blocks by a CU player this year.

2. CU’s Desiree Wooten: Posted 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.

3. Kansas’ S’Mya Nichols: Scored a game-high 14 points and had three assists and four steals.

Up next: The sixth-seeded Buffs will face third-seeded Baylor in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals on Friday (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+) in Kansas City.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Higher-seeded teams had a rough day in the Big 12 tournament on Thursday.

Colorado was the only one to survive.

The sixth-seeded Buffaloes battled past 11th-seeded Kansas, 55-48, in the nightcap at T-Mobile Center to move on to the Big 12 quarterfinals. CU will face No. 3-seed Baylor on Friday at 7 p.m. MT.

Logyn Greer and Desiree Wooten each had 10 points to lead the Buffs, who won their conference tournament opener for the fifth straight year.

CU trailed by three on two different occasions in the first quarter, but Maeve McErlane and Wooten  hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull CU ahead 12-9 late in the quarter. The Buffs never trailed again.

In the second quarter, Dutat had five points to spark a 12-3 run that gave the Buffs a 24-14 lead.

CU led 26-18 at halftime, but Kansas sliced that deficit in half with four straight points to start the third quarter. Masogayo and Greer then combined for 10 points in a 12-4 run that gave the Buffs their biggest lead, 38-26, with 2:03 to go in the quarter.

Kansas cut the Buffs’ lead to 53-48 with 9.4 seconds to go, but that was as close as the Jayhawks got in the last 14 minutes of the game.

This story will be updated.