No. 20 Colorado’s initial offensive possessions of the first and second half were both turnovers — the Buffs committed 18 in total Wednesday night vs. Loyola Marymount — but CU took a four-point deficit into halftime, bounced back with a cleaner and overall commanding final 20 minutes, taking down the Lions, 76-64 in Boulder.

“We have to make the game easier and simpler,” head coach Tad Boyle said after the win. “The way to do that is by making simple and easy plays. Some of out guys aren’t doing that. You don’t make simple plays and turn it over 18 or 19 times in the last two games. We have to get better.”

While the Buffs coughed it up 18 times, they did force 20 turnovers of Loyola Marymount and this season have forced at least 19 turnovers from an opponent in four of seven games thus far in 2019.

The Buffaloes (7-0) were led by D’Shawn Schwartz, who scored 16 points and looked good from deep, going 4-of-7 on the night from the three-point line. His shining moment arguably came with the Buffs down, 49-44, with just under 13 minutes to play in the game.

He took a three-pointer from the right side of the arc, missed, followed up and rebounded his own shot. From there, the Buffs moved the ball around, got it back to Schwartz, who took a follow up three and sank it, putting CU within striking distance of the Lions.

His teammate and fellow junior McKinley Wright IV credited Schwartz with sparking the team’s comeback in the second half.

“It was really D’Shawn,” he said. “...In one of those huddles to start the second half, he kind of looked at me and said ‘we aren’t losing this game.’”

Wright contributed 16 points as well, and was 4-of-10 from the floor on the night. In total Colorado shot a healthy 42% in the game.

Colorado’s 13 first half turnovers contributed heavily to the 34-30 deficit the team found itself in heading into the second half. Wright and Tyler Bey both had seven points in the initial 20 minutes of play, tying for the team-lead.

Bey would go on to contribute a total of 13, while securing a team-high nine boards.

RELATED: Takeaways and analysis after Colorado's Wednesday evening victory over Loyola Marymount

The Buffs had a tall task in defending the Lions’ junior, 6-foot-6 guard Eli Scott, who dominated all night in the paint and dropped 31 points, leading all participants.

“Eli Scott — what a terrific player,” Boyle said. “We knew that coming into the game watching film. I mentioned that to (LMU head coach Mike Dunlap) before the game — that kid can play. He proved it tonight.”

Late into the first half, as turnovers continued to mount for the Buffs, crippling the team’s offense, Loyola Marymount took a 32-24 lead with 87 seconds before halftime.

But from there, Colorado went on a 6-2 run to end the half, regaining some much-needed ground, in part thanks to a slick dunk under the basket by Daylen Kountz on a feed from Wright with 21 seconds left, which would turn out to be the final basket of the half.

Kountz doubtless handed in his most dominant game of 2019. He scored 11 points for the Buffs and was a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe.

“Bringing him off the bench gives him a little less pressure,” Boyle said of Kountz. “...Daylen is really good in transition. At the end of the shot clock, he made some really good plays at the rim and got to the foul line.”

Colorado trailed for the first 10 minutes of the second half, going down by as much as nine points, but steadily started to chip away at their deficit. Schwartz’s second-chance three-pointer with 12:52 to play got CU within two, and for the next few minutes, the two teams traded leads while the game became tied four times down the stretch.

Then, with 2:41 to go, Schwartz hit another three-pointer, giving Colorado a 64-61 edge. Within a minute, a pair of FTs via Schwartz had CU up, 67-61, and with 1:23 to play, the Lions had to begin fouling the Buffs whenever possible to preserve the game clock.

The desperation strategy didn’t pan out, and after Schwartz’s three-pointer, Colorado never trailed again. A fast break layup from Wright put the Buffs up by 10, 72-62, with 41 seconds left in the game, and a few additional trips to the foul line later, emerged victorious at the CU Events Center, 76-64.

“In terms of Loyola Marymount, we took a good shot from them tonight and we handled it,” Boyle said.

Up next for Colorado is a highly anticipated showdown with No. 2 Kansas on the road in Lawrence. The Dec. 7 game will be six years to the day of Colorado bested a No. 6-ranked Jayhawks team in Boulder via a buzzer-beating three-pointer from then-junior guard Askia Booker, lifting CU to a 75-72 victory.

“They are not perfect — they can be beat,” Boyle said of Kansas in 2019. “To go into Allen Fieldhouse and win, you better take care of the ball, control tempo, guard and not let them get on their runs. The crowd is unlike anything any one of our players have seen yet. We are not going to be afraid — we respect everybody and fear nobody.”

No. 20 Colorado and No. 2 Kansas tip-off from Lawrence at 5 p.m. MST. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.