Matt Velazquez

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

When it comes to preseason games across college basketball, a win is all but assured for the home team, which usually plays a team from a lower division. Putting together a complete performance is far from guaranteed, however, especially this early in the season.

The Marquette men's basketball team wasn't perfect Saturday against Division II Rockhurst, but the Golden Eagles got solid performances from everyone on the roster, playing disciplined, cohesive basketball at both ends of the court in a 106-53 victory at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

"I was pleased with the effort; I thought our guys really tried to play the right way and tried to do the things that we asked them to do," coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "I thought there was great unselfishness from the opening tip to the final buzzer. We really valued the basketball. ... If you can play the game, I don't care what kind of game it is, and have 29 assists on 42 field goals and only five turnovers, that shows great care for the ball."

MU MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAT: Matt Velazquez, 7 p.m. Wednesday

After Rockhurst scored the first basket, Marquette took total command using a 23-0 run. From there, Wojciechowski used his whole roster, often subbing three or four players at a time. The Golden Eagles never missed a beat.

All 11 of the team's scholarship players got into the game, playing between 13 and 23 minutes each. They each scored at least five points, with freshman Markus Howard leading the way with 17 on 5-for-8 shooting, including 4 for 6 from three-point range. Redshirt junior Andrew Rowsey added 13, freshman Sam Hauser and junior Sandy Cohen each had 12, sophomore Haanif Cheatham chipped in 11 and senior Jajuan Johnson rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10.

Wojciechowski plans to use his bench, which is deeper than any team he's had, but the minutes spread in the regular season won't mirror Saturday's strategy, which was employed in part to keep players fresh and limit the potential for injury.

"We want to use our depth," Wojciechowski said. "I mean, it's going to be real hard to play 10 or 11 guys double-figure minutes — that's not going to happen in a real game. ...But we have a number of guys who can help us win and they've got to stay ready and we have to have a collective ego where our value, our worth to the team is not just measured in minutes. That's not an easy thing to ask young players to do, but in order for us to win that's got to be our approach."

Marquette shot 59.2% overall, including 42.9% from behind the three-point arc, while committing just five turnovers.

"I thought our offense really moved the ball," Wojciechowski said. "One of the things we've talked about offensively is the ball has to find the right shot and on any given night that can be a different guy. We have to stick to the ball finding the right shot on every possession."

On the defensive end, Marquette applied constant pressure, limiting Rockhurst to 29.8% shooting and coaxing 12 steals. The Hawks, who are coached by Drew Diener as well as assistant coach Dick Diener, the cousin and uncle of Marquette director of player personnel Travis Diener, struggled to match the Golden Eagles' intensity, in part because they played an exhibition game against DePaul on Friday night.

BOX SCORE

Rockhurst — Hagan 2-9 2-2 7, Warner 2-7 0-0 4, Nix 3-5 0-1 8, Evans 2-3 2-4 6, Loewen 1-6 3-4 5, Wilson 1-5 0-0 3, Burton 1-2 0-0 3, Hrubes 0-3 0-0 0, Salisbury 0-1 0-2 0, House 1-4 2-2 5, Brown 2-7 0-0 5, Burch 1-2 3-6 5, Kathrein 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 17-57 12-21 53.

Marquette — Fischer 3-6 0-0 6, Howard 5-8 3-4 17, Reinhardt 3-5 1-1 8, Johnson 5-8 0-0 10, Cheatham 4-7 2-2 11, Wilson 2-4 2-2 6, Cohen 5-5 1-4 12, Hauser 5-11 1-1 12, Heldt 3-3 0-0 6, Carter 2-4 0-0 5, Carter 2-4 0-0 5, Rowsey 5-9 0-0 13, Franklin 0-0 0-0 0, Marotta 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 42-71 10-16 106.

Rockhurst 19 34 — 53 Marquette 53 53 — 106

Three-point goals — Rockhurst 7-32 (Nix 2-3, Burton 1-2, Wilson 1-3, House 1-4, Brown 1-5, Hagan 1-5, Evans 0-1, Loewen 0-2, Hrubes 0-3 Warner 0-4), Marquette 12-28 (Howard 4-6, Rowsey 3-6, Cheatham 1-1, Cohen 1-1, Reinhardt 1-3, Carter 1-3, Hauser 1-5, Johnson 0-1, Marotta 0-1, Wilson 0-1). Rebounds — Rockhurst 28 (Hagan 7), Marquette 41 (Wilson 6, Hauser 6). Assists — Rockhurst (13 (Nix 3, Brown 3), Marquette 29 (Johnson 6). Total fouls — Rockhurst 20, Marquette 20. A — 7,975.