No. 25 Colorado (2-0) hosted the San Diego Toreros on Saturday night in Boulder for the 2019-20 home opener, battling through a turnover palooza and cold first half of shooting en route to a 71-53 win.

D'Shawn Schwartz led Colorado with 15 points while Tyler Bey contributed a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The Buffaloes have a short turnaround as UC Irvine, which went 31-6, making the NCAA Tournament last season, will be in town Monday evening for a 7 p.m. showdown.

In the first half of play, no team led by more than four points at any time and the Buffs took a three-point lead into halftime, thanks to a long ball from junior guard Maddox Daniels with 40 seconds on the clock that turned out to be the final basket of the first 20 minutes.

Colorado benefitted from a solid first half from Bey, who led all game participants with 10 points and flexed his improved abilities from beyond the three-point line, drilling both of his attempts.

But other than that, the Buffs collectively took some time to get things going. Junior guard McKinley Wright IV was just 2-of-7 from the floor in the first half and on the whole, CU hit just 34% of its shots.

However, the Toreros' final lead of the game would come via the 22-21 advantage they held with just over five minutes left before halftime; granted, they did tie the game twice as the half wound down and came within one a few minutes into the second half.

By the time the clock read all zeroes in the second half, Colorado had upped its make rate to a clean 50% in the second half while draining 55% (6-of-11) of its three-pointers during that span.

On the night, Colorado shot 23-of-56 (41%) from the floor and sank just under 46% if its three-pointers.

After the game, Boyle stressed a tightening of the bolts necessary for the Buffs as they continue to embark down a challenging non-conference road, with the Anteaters, a team that returns its top seven scorers from last year and that has four seniors, up next Monday night.

"(Tonight) was a workman-like win, if you will," head coach Tad Boyle said. "..We know we have to be better than we were tonight to be the kind of team that we want to be this year."

Turnovers were a constant annoyance for Colorado, which surrendered 15 in the game — Bey gave up three, while sophomore guard Daylen Kountz, Wright IV and sophomore forward/center Dallas Walton had two apiece.

With that said, the Buffs did generate 19 turnovers from the Toreros.

The Buffs began steadily building a more and more comfortable lead as the second half got underway, and with 12:57 to go, a Schwartz three-pointer gave CU a nine-point lead, its of the night.

But San Diego had trimmed its deficit to four exactly two minutes later, with the Buffs handing on to a 46-42 lead. From there, Colorado quickly took command of the game.

The Toreros suffered from an ill-timed scoring drought, failing to make a single basket for almost six and a half minutes, during which time the Buffaloes embarked on an 18-0 run.

Buy the time San Diego managed to snap its scoreless streak courtesy of a James Jean-Marie layup, it was far too late and the Buffs were up 64-44.

"I think the nerves just kind of calmed down a little bit," Schwartz said. "It was a packed house. It's great, you love to see it. We just had to slow down a little bit and get our head on us."

"We just dug deep at halftime and figured it out," Bey added. "Honestly, I think we just played as a team, helped each other on the back cuts and were just there for each other in the second half."

Schwartz scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, while Siewert added six, off of two big three-pointers that helped spark the big scoring run.

Wright IV drew four fouls, scored seven points and had three assists in the final 20 minutes.

For Boyle, a win is a win, but much work remains to be done for Colorado, which seemed to be flirting with disaster for much of the game with less than ideal ball security and a disoriented, ineffective first half on offense.

"We have to play two halves of basketball, which we haven't done at Arizona State in Shanghai (and) we didn't do (Saturday)," Boyle said. "We got to put two halves together and play with great toughness on Monday because it's going to be a battle."

The Buffs and Anteaters tipoff from the CU Events Center on Monday night at 7 p.m. MST.