With a stuttering halfcourt offense and a lax defensive effort, No. 16 Marquette suffered an identity crisis in its season opener Friday at the Bradley center against Division II opponent Hillsdale.

"We're one game into the regular season, and we've already been taught how we have to play," head coach Tom Crean said.

Hillsdale dictated the tempo, negating Marquette's transition game and exposing the Golden Eagles' poor shooting in halfcourt sets. Although Marquette prevailed 76-66, worrying signs – including a 36-32 halftime deficit – were abundant.

"We didn't get a lot of points on the break like we usually do," sophomore guard Dominic James said. "When we get easy baskets, that gets us into the flow of the offense. We didn't get a lot of easy baskets tonight."

Marquette finished with 14 fast-break points and lacked the halfcourt efficiency to pull away. While the team as a whole improved its shot selection – in contrast to its exhibition game against Cardinal Stritch – by penetrating instead of settling for perimeter jumpers, the shots weren't falling.

James scored 13 points on 3-of-15 shooting and didn't have a field goal in the first half. Sophomore guard Jerel McNeal went 7-for-22, leading Marquette with 19 points. Marquette wants to cure cold shooting nights this season with transition scoring, but it was unable to convert off turnovers Friday because it didn't force enough mistakes.

"All of it really started with our defense," McNeal said. "If we would have played defense like we wanted to play all night long, then we wouldn't have had a problem getting easy baskets."

Sometimes even the easy opportunities proved overwhelming. McNeal missed an uncontested layup after a steal in the second half, and the last play of the first half symbolized the alarmingly poor first 20 minutes: McNeal missed an open three-pointer, and sophomore Wesley Matthews couldn't convert the follow-up dunk at the buzzer.

It's better to have days like this in November.

"It's good that we learn now rather than later on in the season," James said.

Who's at the four?

As he did against Cardinal Stritch, senior Jamil Lott started at power forward, the only remaining starting spot up for grabs. Crean explained his decision by saying he wanted to make sure the team developed a solid backup to junior Ousmane Barro at center

But Lott might have bought himself a few more starts at the four with 11 points and six rebounds in just 18 minutes.

His main competition, the more perimeter-oriented Dan Fitzgerald, was often inconspicuous and finished with just five points in 19 minutes.

My bad

In a surprising post-game mea culpa, Crean admitted to underestimating Hillsdale.

"I take full responsibility for that," he said.