Marquette unveils a banner and then shows off deep team with easy victory over Northern Illinois

The Marquette men’s basketball team started a new chapter on Monday night at Fiserv Forum.

But first it was time to close the book on last season’s historic run. Before facing Northern Illinois, the Golden Eagles gathered at halfcourt to watch as a banner honoring their Big East regular-season and tournament championships was unveiled in the rafters.

Once the ball was tipped, fifth-ranked MU began a different story. The Golden Eagles looked as deep and talented as advertised and rolled to a 92-70 victory over the Huskies in front of 16,352 fans.

"I can speak for almost everybody who's in the locker room, it was just a testament to all the hard work we put in last year," MU guard Sean Jones said. "We didn't finish how we wanted to but that was just a testament to what we did last year, but we're hungry for more."

BOX SCORE: Marquette 92, Northern Illinois 70

Shaka Smart has depth at his disposal with roster

MU played 10 players in the first half, with head coach Shaka Smart mixing and matching lineups. All 11 available scholarship players - freshman big man Caedin Hamilton plans on redshirting - scored after Al Amadou threw down a putback dunk late in the second half.

"I wanted to play those 10 guys in the first half," Smart said. "Every team is different.

"The dream scenario is guys are playing so hard that they need a break. And we've got a couple more notches to get to that point."

The Huskies had no response after MU hit them with several runs in the first half. The Golden Eagles had a 50-28 advantage at halftime.

"I feel like that's a big reason to how we're going to win games this year," said sophomore Ben Gold, who had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench. "Just the depth, whether we get in foul trouble, whoever it is, we have people to come in and make an impact straight away.

"There's no fall off. We compete every day in practice. Me, Sean, Chase (Ross). The bench guys against the top guys."

Kam Jones has an efficient 20 points

Sean Jones knew junior guard Kam Jones - no relation - was going to have a good game.

"Kam is a confident person," Sean said. "You could tell Kam was going to have a good game when you seen him this morning.

"He came into the Al (McGuire Center on campus) real energetic. Real happy like he always does. Had a great fit on. He was just ready to go. All business. Hair all picked out. Man, it was great to see. Great to see Kam, how he played. He played with pace."

He also played with efficiency, making 6 of 9 shots while also going 5 for 6 from the free-throw line in 24 minutes.

"He's such a good scorer," Smart said. "He puts the ball in the basket in a lot of different ways.

"He scored 20 tonight without breaking much of a sweat on the offensive end. I did think he had some good defensive possessions. Which is an area where we've really challenged him.

"But he's a heck of a player. Maybe in a different game with a different mentality, he plays 33-34 minutes and he scores 30 points. But I love the fact that, for the most part, our guys played unselfishly. They played to help one another."

Tyler Kolek shows off an improved three-point shot

Jones made his first 3 three-pointers. So did Tyler Kolek, a preseason first-team All-American.

The Golden Eagles finished 9 for 25 (36%) on three-pointers, but were 7 for 12 in the first half. MU's biggest change this season is adding the sharpshooting David Joplin to the starting lineup to replace Olivier-Maxence Prosper, now with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.

"First of all, our starting lineup has one more guy in it that is a really, really dangerous outside shooter," Smart said. "O-Max was a good shooter, Jop is an excellent shooter even though he didn't shoot the ball particularly well tonight (1 for 5 from long distance).

"I think when you have him and Kam on the floor and if Tyler is able to shoot the ball the way he did tonight. That could be a very good lineup."

MU's offense was one of the nation's best last season despite having average three-point shooting (35.3%).

"Them two guys account for a lot of our offense and put a lot of pressure on defenses," Sean Jones said of Kam Jones and Kolek. "If they're able to space defenses out more and more, it just makes our offense harder to guard."

Chase Ross has college high in points

MU fans knew what to expect from Kolek (14 points, five rebounds and four assists) and big man Oso Ighodaro (13 points and seven rebounds).

But Chase Ross looked like the breakout candidate that the Golden Eagles coaches predicted he'd be.

Ross scored 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, topping the college high of 11 that he put up against Central Michigan last season. Ross used his athleticism to convert several swooping shots around the rim. He also knocked down both his three-point attempts.

"The thing about Chase is you just want him out there," Smart said. "In so many situations on offense and on defense.

"I like his confidence. He's asserting himself more with talk. That's the most exciting thing about Chase is the more he talks, the better he'll play. The more he communicates, the better we will be as a team. The more he leads, the further we can go. And tonight was a good step with that with his first game of the year."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kam Jones Tyler Kolek Chase Ross help Marquette beat Northern Illinois