Colorado Buffaloes

How the Buffaloes play under each referee

Every Buffaloes game grouped by individual referee. Over this sample the Buffaloes are 119-86 (58.0%); each ref win rate below is compared to that team average.

Tony Padilla has the most Buffaloes games in this sample (31).

Updated Sep 30, 2026, 12:31 a.m.·2020-2026 (2020-11-26 – 2026-04-02)

Buffaloes record: 119-86 (58.0%)

Officials with enough games overlap across crews; combined team-official games (358) exceed 205 unique team matches. Table lists refs with 8+ games.

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Michael Irving
+36.4 pts vs team-4.1
Kelly Pfeifer
+29.5 pts vs team-4.0
D.G. Nelson
+24.4 pts vs team-2.5
Randy Richardson
+22.0 pts vs team-4.0
Eric Curry
+19.8 pts vs team-2.4
Tommy Nunez
+17.0 pts vs team-1.0
Ray Natili
+17.0 pts vs team-4.0
Brooks Wells
+13.4 pts vs team-2.4
Verne Harris
+7.5 pts vs team-2.6
John Higgins
+4.5 pts vs team-4.2
Gregory Nixon
+2.7 pts vs team-2.3
Michael Greenstein
+2.0 pts vs team-0.6
Marques Pettigrew
+2.0 pts vs team+0.7
Kipp Kissinger
-0.1 pts vs team-1.7
Mike Reed
-0.9 pts vs team-1.0
Scott Brown
-2.4 pts vs team-2.4
Nate Harris
-3.5 pts vs team-0.4
Deron White
-8.0 pts vs team-2.3
Deldre Carr
-8.0 pts vs team-0.9
Gerry Pollard
-12.5 pts vs team-1.6
Tony Padilla
-16.1 pts vs team-0.1
Chris Rastatter
-24.7 pts vs team-1.0
Chance Moore
-33.0 pts vs team-2.7

Tight-game proxy

How Colorado Buffaloes compares in tight final-margin games vs the full sample. Based on official box scores, not last-two-minute reports.

Close games (≤5 pt margin)

51 of 205 games match this window

Avg combined points
Tight-game avg
146.3
Season avg
144.2
Pressure impact
+2.1
Avg fouls
Tight-game avg
34.5
Season avg
34.1
Pressure impact
+0.4
Over rate
Tight-game avg
49.0%
Season avg
47.8%
Pressure impact
+1.2 pp

Over benchmark: 145.3 combined points · Seasons: 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26 · 205 total games in sample

Pregame toss-ups (spread ≤5.5)

What am I looking at?

Individual refs: stats for one official across all Buffaloes games they worked, even with different partners.
Team baseline: the Buffaloes went 119-86 (58.0%) across this sample. Ref win rates show how they compare to that team average.
Whistle differential: who gets called more. A positive number means opponents are whistled more often than the Buffaloes.

Scores, fouls, and referee crews from ESPN (9885 games across 80 tracked programs, 6047 with sportsbook totals). Coverage: 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26. Matrix: 4078/8349 ref×team pairs with 3+ games. 69 games skipped (no officials listed). 0 games skipped (outside live conference gate). Ref game counts rebuilt from DISTINCT game_id in game logs.