Colorado will soon be heading to the Maui Invitational to face some of the best teams in the country, but the Buffs had one last tuneup that ended with an 88-66 rout of Harvard on Sunday afternoon.

Harvard (1-4) struggled with the Buffs' length as they outrebounded the Crimson 43 to 30 and Colorado was able to block six shots. Four of those blocks were produced by Elijah Malone, who had a stellar day posting 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and those big denials. Malone’s 6-foot-10, 268-pound stature was bothersome for the Crimson as the CU center drew a handful of fouls, leading the Buffs going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line.

Colorado’s size overpowered Harvard Sunday afternoon. In the first half, Harvard committed nine fouls that allowed the Buffs’ to separate as they hit 10 of 12 from the stripe. In Harvard’s efforts to defend the Buffs’, CU (4-0) continued to get to the line hitting 11 of 13 in the second half.

While Colorado cashed in from the free-throw line, Andrej Jakimovski led the Buffs in scoring and recorded his first 20-point game as a Buff. He is beginning to trend upwards after leading Colorado with 17 points against Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday. He helped carry Colorado in the first half as 15 of his 20 points came during the first 20 minutes.

Even though the Buffs’ produced a 20-point victory against the Crimson Sunday afternoon, Harvard was able to linger and almost erased CU’s 46-34 lead at the half by trimming it to just 56-50 halfway through the second half. Harvard’s 3-point shot was falling in the first half and it hit 6 of 13 (46.2%) from deep, but it was only 10 of 30 from inside the arc. That flipped in the second half as the Crimson only made two 3-pointers and shot 14 of 35 (40%) from the field.

Just as Harvard climbed back to pull within 6 points in the second, Colorado went on a 16-2 run to eliminate the Crimson’s second half progress and put the Buffs well in front, 77-54. At the end of the game, Colorado hit eight of their last 10 shots to send Harvard packing.

Jakimovski, Malone, Javon Ruffin (15 points) and Trevor Baskin were all in double figures Sunday afternoon. Baskin’s first start as a Buff over Ruffin proved to be successful for head coach Tad Boyle as Baskin contributed on both ends of the floor. In addition to his 13 points (6 of 8 from the field), he also recorded seven rebounds, two blocks and one steal.

Against Cal State Fullerton, the Buffs recorded an early season-high 21 turnovers, many of them unforced. Against Harvard, CU was able to minimize some of its turnovers finishing the game with 13.

Colorado’s nonconference schedule has provided some answers on what this year's squad may look like without its top six rotation players from last season. Almost losing to Northern Colorado for the first time in 89 years brought a handful of shortcomings to the forefront, but three wins by at least 20 points showcased the consistency that Boyle expects from his squad — except the turnovers which looks to be a work in progress.

The Maui Invitational features several top programs including UConn, North Carolina, Auburn, Iowa State and Dayton while Colorado’s first matchup at 3 p.m. MT will come against Michigan State.

Colorado’s game against head coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans (4-1) will certainly provide a glimpse of what’s to come in conference play.