Colorado 83, USC 74: Xavier Johnson scored 20 points and the visiting Buffaloes eased away in the second half for their fourth win in the last five games.

Askia Booker added 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Josh Scott finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks for Colorado (19-7, 8-5 Pac-12). Xavier Talton matched his career high with 14 points and freshman reserve Jaron Hopkins scored his 10 points in the first half for the Buffaloes.

Byron Wesley led USC with 21 points, eight rebounds and three steals. J.T. Terrell scored 14 points off the bench and Omar Oraby contributed nine points and nine rebounds in a reserve role for the Trojans (10-15, 1-11), who have lost 11 of their last 12.

The Buffaloes took less than nine minutes to build a double-digit lead but the Trojans did a good job keeping them from running away in the first half. Colorado led by eight at the break before USC narrowed the gap to as little as four with just under 15 minutes remaining.

Colorado’s defense then stiffened and held the Trojans without a field goal for nearly seven minutes, upping its lead to 62-48 in the process. Due to a violation of team rules, USC played without starting point guard Pe'Shon Howard, who is second on the team in scoring (10.4) and leads in assists (4.3) and steals (1.5), and the Trojans finished with six assists and 17 turnovers.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Chass Bryan started in place of Howard and finished with eight points on 2-for-2 shooting from the floor and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line. … Talton shot 2-for-3 from 3-point range and is 12-of-17 in the last five games. … Johnson, a sophomore forward from Los Angeles, scored in double figures for the eighth straight game.