The Ducks chose the wrong time to go ice cold.

With less than a week away from the Pac-12 Tournament getting underway, the Oregon men’s basketball team played dismally from tipoff to the final buzzer in a lopsided loss at Colorado on Thursday, 76-53.

Oregon could have clinched at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season title as well as the No. 1 seed for the Pac-12 bracket but instead suffered their second absolute blowout loss of the year. The defeat was also the second time they fell to the Buffaloes this season, the fourth in the last five meetings between them.

Less than an hour before the game’s start, news came that Colorado would be without Andre Roberson, the country’s leading rebounder. While it looked like this could be a big blow, the Buffs played with vigor while the Ducks were atrocious from the field.

First half — Colorado grabbed a quick 8-5 lead behind two NBA-range threes from Spencer Dinwiddie. Offensive fouls plagued the Ducks early and often, which was accompanied by some of the worst shooting all season. From the 16-minute mark all the way until 8:27, the Ducks didn’t hit a single field goal, falling behind 20-7 before Arsalan Kazemi ended the scoring famine. With 7:21 left, Oregon was behind 21-11 — a surprisingly close mark considering the shooting effort.

The Buffaloes snagged a 16-point advantage with less than three to go when Sabatino Chen delivered a punishing crossover on E.J. Singler and laid the ball in for the 34-18 lead.

With less than 10 seconds before intermission, Singler air-balled a three pointer, which served as a perfect illustration for Oregon’s first half. At 37-21, the Ducks were shooting less than 27 percent and had managed a season low for first-half points.

Second half — Another picture of dominance from Colorado came at around 13:30 when they rolled down the court on a 3-on-1 scenario, which ended in a dunk, and Oregon forward Ben Carter getting mowed over in the process.

Ducks’ backup center Waverly Austin was called for a flagrant foul when he punched a Colorado player in the groin — two free throws later, the home team held its biggest lead of the night at 24.

Oregon would cut it to 17, but it expanded back up to 25 before the Buffaloes closed out a 23-point win.

Johnathan Loyd, Carter and Kazemi were Oregon’s top scorers with 10 each. Freshman Xavier Johnson led Colorado with 22 points, shooting 7-for-7 from the field.

The Ducks went 9-of-22 from the foul line and shot below 38 percent for the game.

At 12-5 in conference play, the Ducks’ road game against Utah on Saturday will dictate much. If Oregon wins, they will either share or win outright the regular season title and clinch the No. 1 seed for the Pac-12 tourney.