Before the start of Marquette's game against South Dakota State, the Golden Eagle players and fans indulged themselves in the unveiling of their Great Alaska Championship banner before watching a short highlight reel of the team's wins over Eastern Washington, Oral Roberts and South Carolina.

No footage of the Golden Eagles' 10-point loss at Nebraska on Nov. 30, three days after returning from Anchorage, was shown.

After all, Saturday was all about confidence.

The embarrassingly lopsided 87-52 win over South Dakota State marked the team's first home game since the triumph up north, and the team wanted to re-assert its top form.

Which it did. Again. And again. And again.

"Our concern was getting better ourselves today," said head coach Tom Crean. "And anytime you're coming off a long trip like we have… it's really important that we get back to our basics, and that was defensive pressure."

The Jackrabbits, in their second season of Division I basketball, could barely bring the ball up the court against the Golden Eagles' defense, whether it was a full-court trapping press, a half-court trap or straight-up man-to-man.

"We certainly wanted to continue to work on our half-court defense," Crean said. "We just wanted to put continuous pressure. … We want to get to the point eventually where we can play with that aggressive mentality all the time."

Marquette's freshmen backcourt trio of Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wes Matthews spearheaded the pressure and combined for 15 of the team's 20 steals.

The game quickly developed an exhibition-like atmosphere in which Marquette practiced its pressure defense against a team inept at coping with pressure. It was the equivalent of a varsity high school team bullying its JV squad in a scrimmage.

The demoralized Jackrabbits, symbolized by the repetitive motion of head coach Scott Nagy burying his head in his hands, committed 32 turnovers, 10 of which came during the first six minutes of the second half that saw Marquette extend its lead to 64-22.

It has not always been this bleak for South Dakota State, which used to dominate the North Central Conference at the Division II level. The Jackrabbits went a combined 97-27 in the four seasons prior to their move to the Division I level. Last season they finished 10-18 and lost to Marquette 76-60. Moreover, the Jackrabbits had lost by only 17 at Kentucky earlier this season. They cannot attribute their poor play Saturday to inexperience against high-level competition.

Marquette will hope Saturday meant more than padding individual statistics.

If the Golden Eagles took solace in watching highlights of three victories over teams that failed to make the NCAA tournament last year; if attempting two alley-oop dunks in the final 10 minutes of a 40-point blowout put smiles on the faces of fans; and if running a team as over-matched as the Jackrabbits off the court boosted the young team's confidence, then Saturday's game was a rousing success.