Grace College head coach Scott Moore obviously wanted his team’s business trip to provide a season springboard for his national NAIA powerhouse program. But he also said the Lancers wanted to make the Colorado Buffaloes better.

Only time will tell if the teams’ preseason exhibition matchup will prove beneficial to the new-look Buffs. But it certainly was an eye-opener.

CU prevailed in its latest preseason test, pulling away from the Lancers in the second half to post a 92-66 victory Sunday at the CU Events Center. Grace, a small school in Northern Indiana and the former home of CU’s sixth-year center Elijah Malone, led for the final 9 minutes, 52 seconds of the first half and into the first few minutes of the second half before the Buffs final asserted control.

“This team is figuring out that defense is where it’s got to be,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “I told them after the game, that first half, if we’re struggling to shoot the ball like we did, we’re struggling to score the ball and finish the ball at the rim, then we’d better have energy at the other end. They scored 29 points in the second half. We do that defensively in the first half, we’re up by five at halftime even though we were really, really poor offensively.”

With seven new freshmen, two transfers and a second-year player coming off a redshirt season in Andrew Crawford, it was the unofficial CU debut for the bulk of the roster. And with sophomore forward Sebastian Rancik still sidelined due to an ankle injury, the newcomers took center stage.

Boyle opted to pair point guards Barrington Hargress, a transfer from UC Riverside, and freshman Isaiah Johnson alongside the Buffs’ only three active returnees — Malone, Bangot Dak and Felix Kossaras — in the starting lineup.

The Buffs shot just .378 in the first half but turned it on after halftime, shooting .679 (19-for-28) in the second half to finish with a .508 mark. CU outrebounded Grace 42-31 and finished with 15 turnovers. The Buffs outscored the Lancers 58-29 after halftime and forced 15 second-half turnovers from Grace.

Johnson led the Buffs with 21 points, going 4-for-6 on 3-pointers and 7-for-10 overall. The rest of CU’s rotation finished just a combined 5-for-19 from 3-point range, but there were a number of solid individual performances.

Another freshman guard, Jalin Holland, went 5-for-7 with 14 points, four assists, four rebounds, three steals and no turnovers in 15 minutes. Josiah Sanders, yet another freshman guard, drew four fouls, sharing the team lead with Johnson, and finished with a game-high five assists to go with 11 points.

Malone went 2-for-4 with five points against his former team and shared the game-high rebounding honors with his former teammate, Grace’s Ian Raasch, with nine.

“I think the main message (at halftime) was just our defense,” Kossaras said. “We just knew the second half we just had to pressure the ball and kind of speed them up.”

Notable

Sunday’s attendance was 702, which was slightly under the totals for the previous two small school exhibitions at the Events Center against Pomona Pitzer last year (950) and Metro State in 2023 (902). … All 14 scholarship players logged minutes for CU. … The Buffs will host Marquette in a closed scrimmage next Sunday (Oct. 26).

CU Buffs men’s basketball 92, Grace College 66

GRACE

Carpenter 0-1 0-0 0, I. Raasch 5-10 2-2 13, Walston 2-7 1-1 5, G. Sefton 2-7 3-4 9, T. Raasch 1-5 2-2 4, Wellman 5-9 2-2 13, Houser 2-6 0-0 5, Betten 0-2 2-2 2, Bricker 1-5 0-0 3, Hayworth 1-1 2-2 5, Schultz 0-1 2-2 2, Herrold 0-0 0-0 0, B. Sefton 0-1 2-2 2, Martin 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 20-56 18-19 66.

COLORADO

Dak 4-7 2-2 10, Malone 2-4 1-1 5, Johnson 7-10 3-4 21, Kossaras 5-8 0-0 11, Hargress 1-7 3-4 5, Michaeli 5-10 2-3 12, Sanders 3-6 4-7 11, Holland 5-7 2-4 14, Ifaola 0-1 0-0 0, Crawford 1-2 0-0 3, Inman 0-2 0-0 0, Van Elswyk 0-1 0-0, 0, Mani 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-65 17-25 92.

Halftime: Grace 37-34. 3-point field goals: Grace 8-23 (Carpenter 0-1, I. Raasch 1-1, Walston 0-1, G. Sefton 2-4, T. Raasch 0-1, Wellman 1-3, Houser 1-3, Bricker 1-5, Hayworth 1-1, Schultz 0-1, B. Sefton 0-1, Martin 1-1); Colorado 9-25 (Malone 0-1, Johnson 4-6, Kossaras 1-3, Hargress 0-4, Michaeli 0-2, Sanders 1-2, Holland 2-2, Crawford 1-2, Inman 0-2, Van Elswyk 0-1). Rebounds: Grace 31 (I. Raasch 9); Colorado 42 (Malone 9). Assists: Grace 16 (T. Raasch 3, Houser 3); Colorado 19 (Sanders 5). Turnovers: Grace 20 (Carpenter 3, I. Raasch 3, G. Sefton 3, Houser 3); Colorado 15 (Dak 2, Sanders 2, Crawford 2). A: 702.