The Sports Arena, for a day, felt like the home of the Bruins.

The Bruins, for a day, resembled the team that was supposed to be nationally ranked and picked to win the Pac-12.

Colorado, which entered the game tied for first place in the conference, couldn’t handle UCLA’s inside-out style of basketball Saturday afternoon at the Sports Arena. The Bruins’ 77-60 win was as important a victory as they’ve had all year. It also topped off their rude welcome to the Pac-12’s newcomers. UCLA completed a two-game sweep back at home after a 76-49 stomping of Utah on Thursday.

“I think we built momentum off the Utah game,” sophomore guard Tyler Lamb said. “This game, this is the biggest win for us this year besides Arizona. … As good as my teammates came out here and played, I think we can build from it.”

A rowdy crowd of 9,253 came to watch the Saturday afternoon game, 3,000 more than UCLA’s previous attendance high at the Sports Arena, its home-away-from-home for a season.

The crowd had something to cheer about, and the fans were at their loudest at the end of the first half. Consecutive triples from Lamb and freshman guard Norman Powell just before halftime swiftly turned a two-point deficit into a 40-36 lead going into the locker room.

“I think our players were very enthused by the support of our fans,” coach Ben Howland said. “This was by far the best crowd we’ve had at the Sports Arena this year.”

For as hot as UCLA (12-9, 5-4 Pac-12) was in the first half – shooting 58 percent from the field – the Bruins sustained their play after the break. They disrupted numerous Colorado possessions, forcing six steals and blocking four shots in the second half. Their offense remained impressive, shooting 62 percent to pull away from Colorado (14-7, 6-3).

The lead jumped to 10, and not even a timeout by Howland after a made basket was going to stop the Bruins from letting it get to as much as 19.

It was a far cry from their second half one week ago against Oregon, when they couldn’t sustain their first-half rhythm and quickly blew a 13-point halftime lead.

“Our intensity picked up a little in the second half,” redshirt sophomore forward David Wear said. “There’s been a couple times where our intensity dipped off in the second half. It was good to come up with that much intensity – really talking about our defense and not allowing any second shots.”

Not only did the Bruins not fade in the second half, they were even more efficient. For the second straight game, UCLA shot better after halftime than before.

The Bruins also shot 3-pointers efficiently, going nine-for-13 from distance a game after going nine-of-16. The pair of threes just before halftime gave them six for the first half. UCLA was averaging 5.2 3-pointers per game this season.

Lamb led UCLA with three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points, six assists, seven rebounds and three steals. Howland called it Lamb’s best game in two seasons as a Bruin.

Senior guard Lazeric Jones had 17 points and nine assists, while the Bruins had a season-high 26 assists, on 31 made baskets.

The Bruins looked to their big men in the post early and often, as they have throughout their up-and-down season. But their outside shots were falling when the post wasn’t an option, keeping the Buffaloes on their heels and giving the Bruins all kinds of freedom.

The numbers reflected their complete play; UCLA finished with 32 points in the paint and 27 points off 3-pointers.

“We were just out there playing off the flow,” Lamb said. “We were taking what we were given. When the bigs were open we were hitting them and they were finishing. When they were being pressured we were kicking the ball back out.”