GREEN BAY-WESTERN MICHIGAN QUOTES

Senior guard Shawntes Gary

(What do you attribute the recent struggles of the team to?) "It just comes down to us being mentally tough and carrying out the game plan. The coaches do a great job of preparing us for the games. It's on the players back to come out and execute what we go through in practice. We just have to come out and execute better offensively and defensively in the game."

(Do you attribute the holiday break to coming out flat?) "No, I don't think so. We got some good practices in and really worked on the things we needed to do to be successful today in the game and we just didn't come and execute like we needed to do to win."

(On looking ahead to MAC play) "It's all about work for us right now. Just keep working. We know we are going into MAC play and we want to get this turned around as quick as we can, but we just got to work."

Junior guard David Kool

(On the game) "It was tough, but you have to give all the credit to Green Bay. They did a great job defending all of us. They contested every shot and when we drove there was help there.

"We've seen everything with the amount of games we've played. It's nothing new. It's a matter of executing. We didn't execute as well as we would've liked to and we need to continue to work at."

(On whether he was pressing to do something) "I don't think so. I think I had a lot of good looks tonight and they just didn't go down and when that happens you just need to keep on shooting them and never try to force anything and I don't think (I forced) anything tonight."

(On what it will take to turn things around) "It's going to take a total team effort from the top to the bottom. We have a long ways to go and I know the guys in the locker room are going to be really anxious to go back out there and show what we got. We've got these next couple weeks to really bear down in practice and that's what we really need. I think we're going to be ready and the coaches are going to do a great job preparing us and we're going to come out and really show ourselves."

Head coach Steve Hawkins

(On the game) "It's obviously very tough right now when you're losing like this. Tough to keep coming back when you're facing a team with a lot of long faces when you walk into the locker room. Tonight, we had a couple of different things go on. We missed some really good looks from good shooters. This is the second game in a row that has happened. Tonight, the turnover bugaboo really jumped up and got us.

"We were executing at a decent level when we weren't turning the ball over. We got good looks. The other part was we allowed 16 offensive rebounds. This was a very big basketball team that Green Bay had and a very good shooting team. They shot the ball well from three ... but overall they shoot 36 percent from the field. If you hold someone to 36 percent from the field, that's a really good number and we did that tonight. When we turned the ball over and allow 16 offensive rebounds, it led to too many fast break opportunities for them."

(On the play of Michael Redell) "I thought he had been playing really well until tonight. It's easy to look at statistics and say he's not playing well. Unless you're at the game and see guys missing shots when he hits them (in the shooting pocket) with the ball. The numbers don't always tell everything. From the turnover standpoint, some of it has to do with other people, it's not all on him. 

"It's no secret that Mike has been criticized for the last three years, relative to his consistency. I think he's been more consistent this year than he has in past years."

(On someone taking the game over) "I don't want someone to take the game over. Certainly, we're going to call certain players numbers when the game is on the line. It's just executing. It's not one guy saying I'm going to score this basket. There's no such thing as a seven-point basket. It's a matter of getting that basket.

"There does have to be some other individuals that want the ball in their hands and are willing and able to take that shot. Not necessarily take over a game, but they have to be comfortable taking a shot in the last few minutes of a tight game and there is no question that is something I want to see."

(On Green Bay) "We got hit by some screens that gave them a little bit of separation and (Tillema) knocked down a couple of shots. After he hits a couple, everybody is conscious about getting to him. Now you're running at him and he pumps fake, he puts the ball on the floor and drives by you. The key is not to let him have that kind of separation. We made the adjustment in the second half and put Shawntes on him and we did a much better job on him, but then some of their other kids stepped up and hit some shots.

"We played ball screens different ways. When we played one way their bigs got loose, when we played it another way then their guards stayed behind the screens and hit threes. You were damned if you do, damned if you don't.

"They have a very efficient, well-balanced, offensive basketball team and even at that we held them to 36.5 percent from the floor. The problem was we shot 35 percent and turned the ball over 16 times. I don't think our problem was as bad defensively as it was offensively."

(On Donald Lawson) "Donald Lawson played very well tonight and his progression has been outstanding over the course of the season. He's really playing very solid basketball, offensively, defensively. He's making a huge effort and I've got to give the kid an incredible amount of credit because at the beginning of the season he was very unfairly compared to Joe (Reitz). I received emails about Donald Lawson's lack of progression compared to Joe and Donald, very much to his credit, just keeps working. You see the results. He's a very effective center right now and that's what we need."