ROSEMONT, Ill. — Tim Welsh tried a little bit of everything to jump-start the Friars last night, and he may have found out a few things about his team in the process.

After losing, 96-67, at Marquette, Welsh made it clear that he’d try different player combinations if he saw fit. Last night, Welsh used his entire bench. Little-used players like Ray Hall and Marshon Brooks both saw time, and freshman Alex Kellogg was especially impressive in helping PC’s second-half defense.

“Early in the year we were using a lot of people and we were winning because we were defending,” said Welsh. “Tonight we defended. We held them to 40 percent from the floor and we rebounded. You can’t win Big East games in the 90s. It’s not going to happen.”

Kellogg alternated with center Randall Hanke in some defense-offense substituting. He managed only one rebound but provided some added strength inside. The Friars rebounded the ball poorly in the first half but fought back in that department and lost the battle of the boards by only one, 40-39.

Brooks, a 6-foot-5 guard from Stone Mountain, Ga., has played well at practice, and while he needs to get stronger and better defensively, he’s become an option while Dwain Williams and Sharaud Curry remain out with injuries. Williams warmed up last night and was available for duty but did not play.

Welsh doesn’t want to use Curry’s absence as an excuse for poor play by the rest of the Friars. Curry will be evaluated by PC’s doctors when the team returns home today.

“You try to avoid the injury bug, but when it hits you, you can’t talk about it. It doesn’t do any good,” he said. “We have to play without them. They’re not going to put a Barry Bonds asterisk next to our record, saying they didn’t have Curry and Williams. We can play without them. We’ve won a lot of games without them. We’ll keep playing, and when they come back we’ll fit them in.”

Ex-Friar Simpkins does color

Former Friar center Dickey Simpkins was the color man for last night’s game for ESPN Classic. Simpkins played seven years in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls, winning four championship rings. He still lives in Chicago and has been asked to do several college basketball games this winter for ESPN.

“My first one ever was last week. Marquette and Savannah State,” said Simpkins. “It was a blowout at the half, so we had a lot of time to fill.”

Simpkins is running his own personal basketball skills training company, Next Level Performance, in Buffalo Grove, Ill. He also coaches an AAU team in the area called Team NLP. The team already boasts several good players and one junior, Brandon Paul, has committed to play at Illinois in the Big Ten. Simpkins said he’d love to send a player to Providence one day, and he and PC associate head coach Steve DeMeo exchanged business cards.

Visiting the Midwest

PC has plenty of alumni in the Chicago area, and the school’s upper administration was in both Milwaukee on Thursday and in the Windy City the last few days. PC’s president, the Rev. Brian Shanley, met with alums in both cities along with vice president for advancement David Wegrzyn. The Friars continue to fundraise for the Concannon Fitness Center that opened on campus in the fall. Tom Boyan, a PC alum and big basketball booster from New York City, sat with Shanley at both games. Boyan gave the college a $100,000 donation in the last few days.

Around the basket

DePaul is in its 28th season playing at Allstate Arena. The building was formerly known as the Rosemont Horizon. The Blue Demons own a 273-96 (.740) record in the building, which is about 20 miles from campus. … DePaul was picked to finish 11th by the Big East coaches in the preseason poll. PC was picked eighth. … DePaul’s Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal are both impressive freshmen. Tucker led DePaul with 15 points. Koshwal had 8 points and 11 rebounds.

kmcnamar@projo.com