TEMPE, Ariz. >> Midway through the second half, Colorado reserve Harrison Carrington fired a cross-court pass with the Buffaloes on the attack.

It wasn’t a pinpoint feed, essentially splitting the difference between teammates RJ Smith and Trevor Baskin. But Smith and Baskin shared an “I-got-it-you-take-it-moment” and the ball sailed past head coach Tad Boyle, who could only grab his forehead in exasperation.

It wasn’t a critical turnover, as the Buffs were well on their way to an 0-2 start in Big 12 Conference play. Yet the play may have perfectly encapsulated the sort of day for Colorado in which anything that could go wrong, did.

A cold shooting performance and a weak defensive effort out of the gate were more than enough to doom the CU men’s basketball team on Saturday, as the Buffs were routed 81-61 at Arizona State.

“They just had whatever they wanted,” Boyle said. “They beat us inside. They beat us outside. They got whatever they wanted. We didn’t dictate at all with our defense. We were on our heels it felt like the whole (game), both offensively and defensively. We were scoring the ball early, but we couldn’t stop them. They had their way with us.”

ASU shot .517 in the first half and finished with a .519 mark, the second-highest field goal percentage this season by a CU foe. The Sun Devils went 13-for-28 on 3-pointers, which marked the most 3-pointers by a CU opponent this season in regulation (Northern Colorado also hit 13 3-pointers against the Buffs in a double-overtime game on Nov. 8). CU was outrebounded for the fifth time this year and the third time in three games against Big 12 foes, with ASU finishing with a 38-34 advantage.

The Buffs compounded their poor defense with a 3-for-24 mark on 3-pointers. CU’s three most effective long-range shooters — Julian Hammond III, RJ Smith and Andrej Jakimovski — went a combined 1-for-12 from the arc, while ASU seemed to come away with every loose ball and long rebound.

“That means two things. It means they’re tougher and played harder. Neither one of those is acceptable,” Boyle said. “I’ve got to look in the mirror. I’ve got to have our players look in the mirror. We had a two-hour film session after the Iowa State game. Didn’t help a bit. I’ve got to keep trying to figure out ways to help this team. Right now I haven’t figured out a way to get them to guard.”

CU was out of synch pretty much from the opening tip. The Sun Devils buried the Buffs with a 27-5 run early in the first half and never trailed afterward, pushing their lead to 23 points in the first half.

The Buffs scored the final 10 points of the first half to cut ASU’s lead to 40-27 at the break, but the Sun Devils scored the first seven points of the second half and were never threatened the rest of the way.

Trevor Baskin was a bright spot offensively for CU, posting his second double-double of the season with a season-high 23 points along with 10 rebounds.

ASU played without leading scorer Joson Sanon, a freshman guard who suffered an ankle injury late in the Sun Devils’ Big 12 opener at BYU.

“They hit a bunch of shots early that maybe took the wind out of our sails that shouldn’t have happened,” Baskin said. “They shot the ball really well, and we didn’t do a good enough job of limiting their shots.”