MU has a productive scrimmage with Northwestern

Ben Steele
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Marquette men's basketball team faced Northwestern in a closed-door scrimmage at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Saturday.

Marquette men's basketball coach Steve Wojciechowski has been stressing defense the entire preseason. 

He got a good look at his team's progress with a closed scrimmage against Northwestern at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Saturday.

It was not a traditional, 40-minute scrimmage. The teams played a 20-minute half, then two 6-minute end-of-game periods and an 8-minute period with backups.

"I thought our guys really competed on the defensive end," Wojciechowski said. "I was really happy with that first and foremost. I thought we were connected defensively.

"I thought our ball-screen defense was good. I thought our help-side defense was really active against a team that really executes well offensively where you really got to talk and be connected defensively.

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"And they've got really good players. (Bryant) McIntosh is on the Bob Cousy (Award) list and Dererk Pardon is one of the best centers in the Big Ten and Scottie Lindsey is a returning, 15-point-a-game scorer. So they really test your defense.

"And I thought our defense overall, while it wasn't perfect, showed some improvement. We've just got to keep getting better."

The Wildcats return four starters and six of their top seven scorers from the school's first NCAA Tournament team. 

Wojciechowski and Northwestern coach Chris Collins decided not to release the scores of the scrimmage periods, although Wojciechowski said "for 40 minutes it was even, pretty much."

MU sophomore guard Markus Howard scored 22 points and sophomore forward Sam Hauser had 16. Both played in three periods.

Andrew Rowsey had 18 points in two periods. MU said earlier this month that the senior guard wouldn't play in the closed scrimmage or Saturday's exhibition against Lindenwood due to disciplinary reasons.

"This was more of a controlled, practice-type situation so we allowed him to play," Wojciechowski said. "He won't play on Saturday in the open exhibition game at the Bradley Center."

MU freshman big man Theo John suffered an ankle injury on Friday and sat out against the Wildcats. Wojciechowski said John will continue to be evaluated over the next few days.

Wojciechowski said that the other freshmen — guard Greg Elliott, forward Jamal Cain and big man Ike Eke — got valuable experience.

"(The exhibition against) UW-Milwaukee was a good test for us but (Northwestern) is a team that will probably be ranked in the top 20 or top 15 in the preseason, so it was a great learning experience for them, an eye-opener," Wojciechowski said. "I thought they showed some really good flashes. Having the experience when it doesn't really count is a positive thing."

MU junior guard Haanif Cheatham showed no ill effects from a shoulder injury suffered in the preseason.

"Health-wise, I think he is getting healthier," Wojciechowski said. "He has only had three practices, so he is still knocking a lot of rust off from being out most of six weeks."

Transfers Ed Morrow and Harry Froling, eligible in December, were not allowed to participate for MU.

Collins and Wojciechowski are longtime friends. They overlapped for two seasons as players at Duke from 1994-'96 and then spent 13 years together as assistant coaches with the Blue Devils under Mike Krzyzewski.