One of the pleasant surprises of Marquette's 99-70 win over Cardinal Stritch Sunday night was the play of freshman guard David Cubillan.

He scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting off the Golden Eagles' bench while committing only one turnover in 20 minutes of action.

"That's the kind of player we need him to be," sophomore Dominic James said. "He made a lot of contributions to our team tonight, especially on the defensive end, and his defense started his offense."

Cubillan has been mentioned scarcely in comparison to highly-touted Lazar Hayward, the only other freshman on the roster. If Cubillan continues his reliable ballhandling and accurate three-point shooting, he'll make a strong bid to back up James at point guard.

Hayward, who missed six weeks of individual workouts as the NCAA investigated his eligibility, was ineffective and fouled out without scoring Sunday. He was 0-for-3 from the field in 12 minutes of action.

Shaking off the rust

As a team, Marquette committed 33 fouls. Head coach Tom Crean said officials traditionally call fouls more closely early in the season, and added that poor positioning was another factor. The Golden Eagles committed 18 turnovers, which Crean believes was largely a product of first-game jitters.

"I think a lot of it is just getting used to playing with referees," sophomore Jerel McNeal said. "There are so many bad habits you get into in practice."

The spin zone

Crean said he was a long way from establishing a rotation. He was pleased with the second-half performances of James, McNeal and Wesley Matthews. The three combined to score 59 of the team's 99 points. James and McNeal shot a combined 2-of-14 from the perimeter, but Crean did not think they settled for too many outside shots.

"No, not at all," he said. "Not when you see the way that they've improved their shooting."

He added that Matthews connected on 5-of-6 three-pointers and that James and McNeal simply had cold touches Sunday.

Playing at their pace

Fifteen steals helped Marquette force 24 turnovers and score 28 points off Cardinal Stritch miscues. Crean has stressed his desire to play at a fast pace, and Marquette complied on Sunday.