DES MOINES, Iowa -- Rodney Purvis, Daniel Hamilton and a stifling defense carried Connecticut back from an 11-point first-half deficit, giving the Huskies enough for a 74-67 first-round victory over Colorado that kept coach Kevin Ollie unbeaten in the NCAA Tournament.

Rodney Purvis leads @UConnMBB with 19 points!

Moving on to the 2nd Round!#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ejL6t7Samy

— American MBB (@American_MBB) March 17, 2016

Purvis scored 15 of his 19 points after halftime, Daniel Hamilton had 17 points and 10 rebounds and the No. 9 seed Huskies (25-10) advanced to the second round of the South Region.

Josh Scott had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the No. 8 Buffaloes (22-12), finishing 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament in his career. He had five of Colorado's 11 misses in 30 free-throw attempts, aiding UConn's comeback.

@uconnmbb rallies back from a 9-point halftime deficit to take down Colorado and move onto the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney! #MarchMadness

A photo posted by American Athletic Conference (@american_conf) on Mar 17, 2016 at 12:59pm PDT