More often than not, Harrison Carrington and Felix Kossaras have at least received spot minutes for the Colorado men’s basketball team. That changed the day the Buffaloes finally went out and nabbed a win.

Neither player sulked, and both Carrington and Kossaras responded by putting together their best performances of the season during CU’s loss at No. 8 Iowa State on Tuesday.

“We hope everyone’s more comfortable. Like Felix (at Iowa State), just being ready and playing well when his name was called,” Carrington said. “So I just think it’s a matter of all of us trying to get better.”

Kossaras knocked down his only shot attempt on a 3-pointer, and after entering Tuesday’s game with just two rebounds in his previous eight Big 12 appearances, he recorded five at ISU. Kossaras also recorded two assists in a game for only the third time this season and the first time in conference play.

Carrington had played in 22 of 23 games this season before staying on the bench against Central Florida, but he bounced back with a career-high 11 points at ISU, finishing 4-for-5 from the field.

Kossaras and Carrington both connected on their only 3-point attempts at Iowa State, while the rest of the Buffs went 2-for-15. Carrington had scored only eight points over his previous six appearances.

With only five games remaining in a season with no postseason aspirations, CU head coach Tad Boyle said following the loss at Iowa State that he will “play the guys that are playing the best” as roster decisions loom as soon as a month from now. Boyle has shown more of a willingness to mix up personnel than the norm through his 15-season tenure, using 13 different starting combinations this year. At Iowa State, Elijah Malone returned to the starting lineup for the first time since Jan. 28, while fellow graduate transfer Trevor Baskin played a season-low 5 minutes, 59 seconds.

The Buffs have used a different starting lineup in each of the past four games.

“It’s just being ready, and whenever your number’s called just be at your best,” said Carrington, a redshirt sophomore and former walk-on who was awarded a scholarship prior to the season. “So that’s what I’m trying to do every day. Coming to practice every day with a great attitude and help our players get better. Especially as of now, the only thing that matters is our team getting better every day. That’s just where my focus is.”

Rivalry renewed

Baylor, which visits the CU Events Center on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+), wasn’t an old-school conference rival with the Buffs in the Big Eight, but the programs became rivals when Baylor was part of the league expansion that turned the Big Eight into the Big 12 beginning with the 1996-97 season. CU leads the all-time series 16-11, but the advantage was 11-7 during the previous stint as conference rivals (including matchups at the Big 12 tournament).

The teams met three times as nonconference foes before the Buffs returned to the Big 12 this season, most notably when the Bears topped the first Boyle-led CU NCAA Tournament team in the second round of the 2012 tourney.

CU defeated Baylor the following November at the Charleston Classic, then lost to the Bears again the next year in the opener of the 2013-14 season in Dallas.

Looking ahead

With 16th place all but assured for CU in the Big 12, it will likely end up in a matchup at the Big 12 tournament with the No. 9 seed in the second game of the opening round at 1 p.m. on March 11. When the final quarter of the conference schedule begins on Saturday, three teams will be tied for ninth with 7-8 conference marks — West Virginia, Utah and Kansas State. Three others are just one game ahead of that trio with 8-7 conference records — Kansas, Baylor and TCU.

In the 16-team tournament format, the top four seeds get double byes into the quarterfinals. The fifth-place through eighth-place teams get one-game byes and play the winners from the opening-round matchups between the bottom eight teams.