Suddenly shorthanded after another turnover-filled half of basketball, Colorado refused to go away without a fight.

Yet it still wasn’t enough to pick up the elusive first win in Big 12 Conference play.

The Buffaloes staged a comeback after a dismal first half to give No. 21 West Virginia a scare, but CU never quite got over the hump while suffering a 78-70 defeat on Sunday afternoon at the CU Events Center.

CU fell to 0-4 in Big 12 play, continuing the program’s worst start to a conference schedule since opening with an 0-7 mark in the Pac-12 during the 2016-17 season. The Buffs have lost four consecutive games for the first time since a five-game losing streak that ended the 2019-20 season.

CU played the second half without starting center Elijah Malone, who suffered a back injury, and starting guard RJ Smith, who didn’t return to the bench after halftime. After the game, head coach Tad Boyle said Smith was sent for further testing after looking out of sorts on the CU bench during the first half.

“Another disappointing loss. It’s been like that now four games in a row,” Boyle said. “I take responsibility for this. I’m the head coach. I’ve got to do a better job helping our guys guard. Because right now, we can’t guard. We did at times in the second half. We scratched and clawed our way back. Bu then down the stretch, the last four or five minutes of the game, we couldn’t get stops. That’s on me. I’ll take responsibility for this.”

The familiar shortcomings that have led to the winless start within the Big 12 all played a role in the latest defeat.

After committing a season-high 22 turnovers at Central Florida, the Buffs committed 11 during the first half against West Virginia, leading to a 12-0 advantage for the Mountaineers at the break in points off turnovers. CU committed only three turnovers after halftime, with no further points off turnovers for West Virginia, but the Buffs surrendered seven offensive rebounds to the Mountaineers in the second half.

Defensively, the Buffs had no answer for West Virginia’s Javon Small, the leading scorer in the Big 12. Small finished just 6-for-17 from the field but he got to the free throw line at will, going 10-for-12 on free throws before finishing with 26 points and seven assists. The Mountaineers had not reached 70 points in any of their three previous Big 12 games.

“When you have that many turnovers in the first half, and then in the second half they had seven offensive rebounds, it’s hard to get back in front, really. Especially when you’re down double digits,” CU senior guard Julian Hammond III said. “We just shouldn’t have let the lead get to what it was at the end of the first half.”

West Virginia led 40-29 at halftime and extended its advantage to 14 points early in the second half before the Buffs rallied, thanks in large part to Mountaineers fouls that put CU in the bonus early and led to 28 free throw attempts in the second half. CU finished 24-for-30 at the line and went 24-for-28 in the second half.

The Buffs battled to within two points on five different occasions in the second half, but couldn’t get over the hump.

Hammond led the Buffs’ offense with 21 points, while Assane Diop went 8-for-8 at the free throw line before finishing with 13 points and five rebounds. A pair of free throws from Diop with 1 minute, 30 seconds remaining kept CU within 68-65, but the Mountaineers scored the next eight points to seal the Buffs’ fate.

“I think playing without (Smith and Malone) in the second half was not helping. But I think it was not something that handicapped us today,” Diop said. “I think we could’ve got the job done, but we didn’t rebound good and we did not take care of the ball. It’s on us.”