Last night, the Buffs' 2021-2022 season officially got underway, as CU hosted Colorado School of Mines in Boulder for an exhibition match and won, 78-48.

Below are some notes, quotes, observations and takeaways following the game, which was not televised or available to listen to on the radio.

Colorado School of Mines was among the nation's best Division II squads in 2020-2021, as the Orediggers posted an 18-3 overall record last year.

Heading into this regular season, Colorado Mines seems poised to have another solid campaign, as the Orediggers return four of their five leading scorers from last year.

While the Buffs won by 30 points, Colorado showed admiration for its vanquished fellow Centennial State foe.

“I got a lot of respect for that program we just played against," Tad Boyle said. "You see the score and you may not feel that way, but (the Orediggers) were 18-3 last year, went to the Elite Eight, they’re a top 10 preseason Division II team and they’re going to win a lot of games this year."

Furthermore, winding the clock back to early in the 2018-2019 season, when Mines visited Boulder for a similar exhibition game, the end result was far from the same as Wednesday.

The Orediggers played Colorado hard, hanging with the Buffs, which at the time featured Tyler Bey, McKinley Wright IV and D'Shawn Schwartz in their sophomore campaigns as well as Evan Battey as a redshirt freshman, deep into the game.

In fact, Colorado Mines led CU, 33-27, at halftime. The Buffaloes went on to mount an impressive comeback, outscoring Mines, 39-24, in the second half en route to a 66-57 win.

Thus, getting the win over an opponent that had given CU trouble in the past, despite having a youthful team, is a good early sign for the Buffs.

“I think it showed out maturity, for one," Battey said. "We talked about me, Benan (Ersek) and Eli (Parquet) — the older guys on the team were around when the last game happened against Mines my redshirt freshman year. We talked about the score at halftime and us not wanting to come out of that same intensity, wanting to get higher so we can win.”

As the 2021-2022 season progresses, Boyle will likely experiment with a number of lineups.

His starting five against the Orediggers were two guards in Parquet and redshirt sophomore Keeshawn Barthelemy plus three forwards in sophomores Tristan da Silva and Jabari Walker and Battey.

With three of the aforementioned players standing at least 6-foot-8, it represents one of the bigger (in terms of height) lineups at Boyle's disposal.

Later in the game, Boyle went guard-heavy with Barthelemy and freshmen Julian Hammond III and K.J. Simpson joined by freshman center Lawson Lovering and sophomore small forward Luke O'Brien.

Guards Nique Clifford and Javon Ruffin were also thrown in the mix as Boyle sought to keep things fluid as far as who was on the court.

“That’s the thing I love about this team, our versatility," he said. "We started with Tristan at the three, and he and Jabari and Evan — that’s a pretty formidable size, because our guards aren’t extremely big this year."

Colorado's lineups are bound to change, likely with a good degree of frequency, as the season gets underway.

Whether he needs to go with a five-man unit comprised of multiple bigs or emphasize his smaller, shiftier guards, Boyle feels he has many options to consider.

"There’s going to be times we play a three-guard lineup and there will be times that we go Evan and Lawson and Tristan or Jabari and really be big," Boyle said.

"That’s what’s going to be fun about coaching this team. Any given night, it might call for a different lineup, and that’s where we’re trying to get to right now.”

Shortly after passing the halfway point of the opening half of play, Colorado held a 19-12 lead over Mines.

However, there undoubtedly was some sloppy play keeping the Orediggers lingering around, as by the 8:49 mark of the first half, the Buffaloes had committed seven turnovers.

But in impressive fashion, from there, Colorado didn't have any others. It took until the 12:31 mark of the second half for the Buffs to commit their eighth.

On the night, CU finished with 10 turnovers, a figure eclipsed slightly by the team's 11 assists.

Following the win, Boyle seemed more concerned with (and impressed by) the limiting of additional turnovers as the game went on as opposed to the sloppy start to things.

“10’s a great number," Boyle said after the win. "They really adjusted. You can still play fast, which we want to do, and be under control. We just got a little careless, in that first half, with the ball, but they adjusted and did a great job. We’ll live with 10 turnovers every night we play.”

When all was said and done Wednesday, Simpson had scored a team-high 12 points, nine of which came in the second half alone.

With only a few minutes left in the game, and immediately preceding Boyle's decision to insert his four walk-on players to close out what had turned into a 30-point lead Simpson, followed up a pair of free throws with a halfcourt steal and dunk.

All in all, the Buffs' freshman guard was aggressive in driving through the lane and attacking the glass.

He finished the exhibition having shot 4-of-9 from the floor, hitting one of CU's two three-point shots, while dishing out a pair of assists and grabbing five boards.

"He's got an unbelievable nose for the rim," Bolye said. of Simpson. "He is in attack mode. We want him to be, especially in transition...K.J. is going to be a dynamic player. He got that breakaway dunk — you're going to see a lot of plays like that from K.J. Simpson."

Clifford turned in an efficient performance in his 19 minutes of playing time.

He made both of his foul shots and had a nice reverse layup in the second half, showing some solid maneuverability around the low post in the process.

In total, he scored six points, far from the top of the leaderboards for the Buffs, however, he managed to snag seven rebounds, second only to Lovering's team-high nine.

Scoring output aside, chipping in on the glass will always be something that earns praise from Boyle.

"He's a sixth starter," Boyle said. "I look at him as a starter right now because he's been our leading rebounder in practice. He led us in rebounding in Costa Rica — you know how much I applaud that and respect that. It's not a surprise he had seven boards."

"He was our second-leading rebounder. I don't know how many minutes he played, but I look at rebounds per minute, and he may have led us."