Chris Smith scored a career-high 30 points, and UCLA did not miss a free throw until the final minute en route to a 72-68 upset of No. 20 Colorado on Thursday in Los Angeles.

The Bruins (11-10, 4-4 Pac-12 Conference) led almost wire-to-wire, building a 12-point lead by halftime. Behind Smith's outstanding performance, UCLA weathered a second-half surge from Colorado.

The Buffaloes (16-5, 5-3) fell behind by 15 points seconds in the second half, but scored 12 straight in less than five minutes to pull within three.

Evan Battey and McKinley Wright IV led Colorado with 14 points apiece. Tyler Bey scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Lucas Siewert added 11 points.

After cutting the deficit to three with just under 15 minutes remaining, Colorado and UCLA went back-and-forth. The Buffaloes pulled to 53-51 with 7:22 to go, but the Bruins responded with what proved to be a back-breaking run.

UCLA outscored Colorado 13-4 over the next 4:40, which included three free throws from Smith when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt, and four consecutive points from Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Jaquez finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Prince Ali scored 11 points for the Bruins, and Smith's nine rebounds marked a game-high.

Colorado appeared to have hit a critical 3-pointer with about 50 seconds remaining, which would have pulled the Buffaloes to within a single possession. However, Shane Gatling made the shot after Wright stepped out of bounds against a UCLA trap.

Colorado had another shot at slicing the lead in half when Ali fouled D'Shawn Schwartz on a 3-point attempt. Schwartz missed the first foul shot, and the two-possession advantage was enough to wrap it up for UCLA.

Free throw shooting played a critical role even before Schwartz's miss. UCLA went more than 39 minutes without a miss, and finished 25-of-29 as a team.

--Field Level Media