BOULDER, Colo. -- Colorado's high-scoring offense dictated the pace against No. 19 Oklahoma's stifling defense to give the Buffaloes their first win this season over a ranked opponent.
Richard Roby scored 28 points and Chris Copeland added 18 for Colorado in the 84-75 victory on Wednesday night.
The Buffaloes (17-5, 7-4) moved into a tie with the Sooners for third place in the Big 12 and bolstered their argument that they deserve a spot in the NCAA tournament.
They did it by outhustling the Sooners (16-6, 7-4) and shutting down Oklahoma's inside combination of Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout.
Gray and Bookout finished with 11 and four points, respectively, both well below their season averages.
"We want to get into an up-and-down game, especially at home," Roby said. "We felt that with the altitude, they wouldn't be able to run. ... With an up-and-down game, we felt we were able to eliminate their bigs."
Michael Neal, who started in place of injured guard Austin Johnson, scored 26 points on 7-of-14 shooting from 3-point range to lead Oklahoma. Johnson sprained his right ankle in Saturday's 80-52 win over Baylor and did not play.
Terrell Everett added 18 points for the Sooners.
Colorado outrebounded Oklahoma 41-32, which Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson said cost his team the game.
"We just gave them too many extra possessions," Sampson said. "They kicked out butts on the boards and that doesn't happen very often."
Oklahoma had been holding opponents to an average of 59.6 points and 26.8 rebounds per game, while Colorado led the Big 12 with an 80.4 scoring average.
Oklahoma had held its last two opponents to just four first-half field goals, but couldn't slow Colorado early.
Instead, the Sooners were forced to rely on Neal's shooting in the first half. He scored 18 points on six straight 3-pointers, which tied a school record, to give Oklahoma a 40-35 lead at halftime.
But in the second half, Neal cooled and Colorado took advantage.
Colorado went on a 10-1 run to take a 63-58 lead with 7:19 remaining. The run was capped by a basket by Marcus Hall, and the Buffaloes would never trail again.
Oklahoma pulled to 69-67 on a basket by Neal, but Roby, Hall and Andy Osborn all hit 3-pointers to give the Buffaloes an 80-71 lead with 2:26 remaining.
"We knew what we had to do, we just weren't tough enough in the second half to maintain the lead or carry out the lead," Neal said. "That's what it comes down to when you're playing a tough team on the road. You've got to be tough."
Colorado played its most complete game of the season. The Buffaloes have struggled at the free throw line this season, but made 19 of 22 in the game. They also made 21 assists -- led by Hall's six.
The performance was enough to convince Sampson that Colorado deserves a spot in the postseason.
"Oh, absolutely," he said. "This is a really, really good team."
