The Colorado men’s basketball team didn’t answer all of its early-season questions during its three-game trip to the Maui Invitational.

Arguably, the wide discrepancy of results the Buffaloes went through during a 1-2 trip might have revealed a few additional questions. However, it was the first taste of major competition for coach Tad Boyle’s new-look roster. And beyond the results — lopsided losses against Michigan State and Iowa State, wrapped around an upset win against No. 2 UConn — the Buffs learned a few things during the trip. Here is a look at three of them.

Man in the middle

Elijah Malone was superb during the first two games in Maui, going a combined 13-for-20 while averaging 15 points against Michigan State and UConn. He was less effective in CU’s 28-point loss against Iowa State, finishing 2-for-7 with a season-high four turnovers.

But the most encouraging aspect of Malone’s performance was less about the numbers than the competition. The former NAIA All-American outplayed Michigan State 7-footer Szymon Zapala, who started for an NCAA Tournament team last year at Longwood. As CU battled through the final minutes of the upset win against UConn, the Huskies were without big men Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr., who had fouled out in large part from trying to contain Malone.

Yes, Iowa State set a playbook for containing the 6-foot-10 Malone, harassing him with fast and aggressive double-teams in the post. Malone isn’t the passer out of the post that Eddie Lampkin Jr. was last year, but he’s certainly capable. The Cyclones won’t be the last team to come after Malone, and he will have to adjust. But he has adjusted quickly already, and there’s no reason to believe that won’t continue. Malone certainly put to rest any notion he might be physically outclassed moving up to the power conference level.

“When we get that piece figured out,” Boyle said of handling the interior double-teams, “we’ll be tough to guard.”

Long-range assault

CU’s team 3-point percentage dipped somewhat playing away from home for the first time — the Buffs packed a .402 mark as they headed to Hawaii, then shot .389 in the three games — but that slight decline was caused almost entirely by a 4-for-19 mark in the opening loss against Michigan State.

Shooting away from home, especially for the first time, often is a challenge but the Buffs bounced back to go 9-for-16 against UConn. The Buffs had plenty of problems against Iowa State (continued struggles in guarding the ball tops among them), but they went 8-for-19 on 3-pointers. Julian Hammond III went 9-for-17 in Maui and is off to a hot start, taking a .452 3-point mark into Monday’s home game against Pacific (7 p.m., ESPN+). Javon Ruffin likely will shoot much better than his current .313 mark, but RJ Smith has more than filled the void, going 4-for-7 in Maui to push his season 3-point percentage to .556 (10-for-18). Andrej Jakimovski was a steady 3-point threat in four seasons at Washington State and has done the same so far in his first seven games at CU.

The Buffs lost one of their all-time 3-point greats in KJ Simpson and another accomplished shooter in Tristan da Silva but should remain an above-par 3-point team. Rare will be the time the Buffs don’t have five players on the floor that all can knock down an open look from the arc. The early returns might be a little less encouraging defensively, but the Buffs can stay close in a lot of tough games with their long-range touch.

Sneak preview

Colorado wasn’t the only team scratching its heads over mixed results in Maui. But the Buffs were the only ones on the wrong end of two different lopsided decisions while also notching a top-tier win.

This might be the routine for the Buffs in Big 12 play.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Buffs knock off one of the Big 12 big boys at home sometime this season. But the Buffs also will be quite capable of losing games they aren’t supposed to. The Big 12 home slate includes Iowa State (a Dec. 30 rematch in the league opener), West Virginia, Cincinnati, BYU, Arizona State, Houston, Central Florida, Baylor, Kansas and TCU. There’s not a gimmie in the group. But if the Buffs can play more consistently as they did against UConn, especially by February, they’ll at least tread water in the rugged Big 12.