WESTERN MICHIGAN AT CENTRAL MICHIGAN QUOTES

WMU senior guard Andre Ricks

(On the way he feels and his future with the left wrist injury) "I'm going to play and help my team out to the best of my ability. The decision was tough. Today, coach asked me if I was ready to go and I had to take on the challenge. It's the first MAC game and my team is kind of down, so I just figured I would do the best I can.

(On the tolerance of pain with the wrist) "I'm a tough guy. Pain is my middle name. I'm going to play every game and just play to the best of my ability and practice on it. The confidence of my guys is motivating me on."

WMU junior guard David Kool

(On what it means to win a road conference game) "We came in here with our backs against the wall. There is no doubt about it. We had two really good weeks of practice. We feel we've been practicing good all year, so it feels good to come out and get a result like this and especially coming on the road. Anytime you play on the road in the MAC, it's nice to come out and get a win because those are hard to come by and it's always great to come up here and play like we knew we could play and if we keep doing that, we'll be all right."

(On Ricks' decision to play out the season) "That probably helped us out as much as anything you could ever ask for. He's our sparkplug. He came off the bench and fired in 11 quick points that put us up big right away and that lifted us for the rest of the game. What he brings to us offensively doesn't even match what he brings to us defensively. He's a guy who can pressure the ball up and down the floor and that's something that we lack when he is out of the game. He changes the complexion of the game offensively and defensively." 

(On how the non-conference schedule prepared the team for MAC play) "I think it was a big eye-opener for us, especially us veterans. Anytime you go 3-10, you know something's not working. I think it was a big motivator for us coming into (practice) each and every day. Maybe some days we didn't want to go at it hard, but we knew everyday we had to come out and play hard because we had to improve each and every step.

"There wasn't one thing you could point at offensively or defensively. We had to improve everything. I think we came out and did a good job of that in practice and it showed tonight."

(On driving more when the three-pointer wasn't falling) "We watched a lot of film and coach pointed out how they don't like to help off of shooters when people drive. We talked about getting to the basket during pregame and not settling for the three-pointer. Just try to get to the basket and if there are open lanes, take them.

WMU senior forward Derek Drews

(On the last time he played center in a game) "I know at Holy Cross we were in foul trouble and I played a possession or two, but not since my senior year of high school in sectionals when we lost to Shawtes' team.

"It's fun until you have to box out Marcus Van and then it's back to reality. You realize you're 6-5 and he's 6-7 and athletic as anybody we play. We're going to be mismatched until (Lawson) gets back. We're just going to have to play through it. I think we did a great job tonight of kind of covering some of the height disadvantages with our speed and we're going to keep doing that and find little areas where we can excel cause of the height difference."

(On how losing Donald Lawson affects the team) "Not only losing Don, but losing Don at the point that we lost him. We had been practicing so well and I think it was January 2 or 3 when he went down. That only gave us less than a week to prepare for your biggest rival and MAC opener. It was tough at the time, but now we can start getting the feel for each other. It doesn't make up for him, he's a big loss. We just need to come together until he gets back."

WMU head coach Steve Hawkins

(On winning his 100th career game at WMU) "It doesn't mean a lot, it really doesn't. The only thought that I have about one win being more significant than another, it doesn't matter. What it means when you are able to do something like that, it means you've got a lot of good players. It's not about the Xs and the Os, it's about the Johnnys and the Joes. We've had some very good players at Western and I've been very privileged to coach and my days at Quincy also."

(On Andre Ricks) "He's energy, he's a spark offensively and he's energy defensively because he can really cause problems with his quickness. That's something we'd been missing, his intensity defensively on a consistent basis and I think it's something that spreads to the rest of the team. That's a huge thing.

"The other part of thing about Dre offensively is he's one of those guys that you don't have to run offense for him to get a shot. He's capable of getting his own shot and he did that a lot in the first half at a point of time when we needed it. It sort of set the tone in the first half and allowed everybody on our team to relax."

(On the decision-making progress to play Ricks) "The biggest thing was protecting Dre. We've been watching him in practice and conferring with doctors the entire time and the wrist has held up. It's just a matter of can he deal with the pain.

"After the Green Bay game, he came to me and said 'I really want to play. I think I can help. I think this team needs me.' He makes a huge difference out there."

(On the smaller lineup) "I thought Flen did a great job while he was in there, really battling and LaMarcus came in and in short minutes blocked a couple of shots and provided his length after having just two practices. Mikey came in and did a really nice job, especially defensively, and Ward came in and did a nice job as well. I thought it was a really good team win for us all the way around. 

"Late, I thought it was good for us to have some offensive stability rather than some defensive rebounding. We went to the smaller lineup that had veterans on the court and we kept veterans out there for the most part in the last six or eight minutes of the game."

(On missing Donald Lawson for a period of time) "There are going to be mismatches and we're going to have to continue to find ways to deal with that. It's not a surprise to me that they had 16 offensive rebounds when we don't have Donald Lawson. Hopefully, Flen doesn't get into as much foul trouble and LaMarcus with more practice time becomes even more comfortable out there. 

"What it comes down to is there are going to be mismatches. With a small lineup, they are going to have problems matching up to us, too, if they are going to play big guys. We were able to exploit that a little bit tonight."

(On opening with a conference road win) "You can't overstate it. We had a bad taste in our mouth after the non-conference season and everybody is anxious for the first conference game. To come in and win here, that's certainly nice, but the better part of it is that you pick up a MAC road win. That is a big, big thing for us to win on the road. If you hope to have any shot at contending for a West Division title, you have to pick up some wins on the road and hold serve at home."