The Colorado Buffaloes (4-0) men’s basketball team was victorious over the Harvard Crimson (1-4) Sunday, winning 88-66. This moves the Buffaloes record to 4-0 as they prepare for the Maui Invitational, a series they will kick off with a game against the Michigan State Spartans (3-1).
Harvard put up a fight in the first quarter as they shot 6-for-13 from three-point range. Colorado made a major adjustment at halftime, as head coach Tad Boyle had this to say regarding his message to his team during the break: “That was part of the game plan, take away threes…for us to be successful at the level that we’re going to need to play, we can’t have those kinds of breakdowns.”
The message was taken to heart by his team as the Crimson made just two of their 10 three-point attempts in the second half.
The Buffaloes’ offense was explosive in the second half as well. After halftime, they buried the Crimson with a 42-point performance, with forward Andrej Jakimovski leading the way. He finished the day with 20 points and five rebounds. His great performance was accompanied by an excellent game from guard Javon Ruffin, who came off the bench and dropped a career-high 15 points with four assists, shooting 4-for-5 from the field and hitting all five of his free throw opportunities.
As CU approaches the Maui Invitational, and with it an uptick in the level of competition they’ll have to face, a great offensive showing like this is crucial to their confidence.
“I think we got better today,” Jakimovski said. "The next couple games are going to be tougher competition, but I think we’ll be ready.”
One thing Colorado will need to be careful of moving into those games is their turnovers. Regarding the Buffs’ turnovers, Boyle said, “That’s the only way they get back in this game.” Despite the Crimson not applying much pressure on defense, the Buffs turned the ball over eight times before halftime, leading to six of Harvard’s 34 points.
“If the teams that don’t pressure, you turn it over against them, it’s going to be a problem,” Boyle said. The team somewhat corrected their turnover issues at the half, as CU would limit their turnovers to five in the second half with most coming in the final few minutes.
So far, CU has overcome the turnover numbers by performing at a high level on the glass. They’ve been a top-50 team in the country in their rebounding numbers through four games, an area they will need to continue to succeed in as they approach games against teams they will not have the same size advantage on as they have had in these first few games.
The Buffs are in action next against Michigan State at the Maui Invitational on Nov. 25 at 3 p.m. MT. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
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