NORTHERN ILLINOIS-WESTERN MICHIGAN QUOTES

Northern Illinois head coach Ricardo Patton

(On the game) "I thought our team came out in the second half and played a lot better. Only outscored by two points in the second half, but unfortunately had built ourselves such a deep hole in the first half we weren't able to make a game of it. Hats off to Steve and his crew. I thought his kids came out and played extremely well, moving the basketball and played very unselfish and guys did their job and stepped up and hit shots and that's a nice recipe for success."

(On Michael Redell) "He did a nice job of just spotting up and taking the shots that were given to him. I thought what their players did that our young guys don't know how to do at this point is they allow the game to come to them. No one for Western was going one-on-one. No one was penetrating for themselves. Most of their penetration was for their teammates and that's the sign of a well-coached and veteran team."

(On WMU's three-point shooting) "They certainly hadn't shot the ball this season as well as they shot it in here today. If you base your gameplan on what they had done, then that's probably one of the reasons we elected to play as much zone as we played. Watching them in warmup they weren't knocking down regular shots. The one thing I can say about this game is when guys are playing with a great deal of emotion ... I thought that's what they did."

Northern Illinois center Sean Kowal

(On going against LaMarcus Lowe) "He's a big body guy. He's probably one of the better post players in the MAC, a big body. Doesn't have a whole lot of moves, but works hard and that makes up for it."

(On Western Michigan) "They were just hitting open shots. We were losing them. We didn't come out with that fire that every team needs to have to win ball games. If we can come out with that fire, we can be a hard team to beat."

Western Michigan forward Derek Drews

(On handling success) "There's definitely been an attitude around us the last few days of practice. I think we're kind of getting comfortable. I know early in the year we struggled to win games and had a lack of mental toughness. Now we're at a pretty high business state of mind. We're going to have to keep that if we want to continue our success.

"It's got to come from all 16 of us. It's gotten to the point now where the freshmen pull us aside and say 'Hey, come on now, you need to get us through this because you're our leaders.' It's 1-16 now. We're all locked in. We're all focused on one goal and checking each others back if we're not doing things right."

(On Michael Redell) "Mike's a solid point guard. He gives us whatever we need. Last game he had one point and then tonight he shoots the ball real well. Whatever we need is usually what he gives us. Whether it is on the defensive end or the offensive end it's usually whatever we need. Tonight, we needed scoring and he gave us good shots when he had his opportunities."

(On the team's three-point shooting) "We were saving them up, that's all. We thought it was time to start shooting well, so we turned that switch on."

Western Michigan guard Michael Redell

(On the team's recent success and coming out strong) "We've obviously been burned throughout this year. We play one game well and the next game we don't handle success well. There comes a point when you get tired of losing. Things are starting to click for us. It took us a while, but I think everybody is starting to get the big picture and we're doing a better job of handling success."

(On deciding what the team needs) "Every team defensively, their philosophies are different so you have an idea going in on how teams are going to guard you. Northern Illinois, with their zone there are a lot of spots that are open for drive and kicks, especially with all of the attention on Dave and Drews. I was open and hit some shots."

(On why things are clicking) "Anytime you have eight new guys it is going to take a little bit to get that team chemistry and camaraderie that any good team has to have, so that's definitely a little part of it. Another part is our stick-to-itiveness. We've just continued to work. The coaching staff has worked extremely hard. We've watched more film this year than we have any other year. Guys have been getting in the gym and getting extra shots up. Just hard work. When things aren't going well you're going to go one way or the other. You're going to work hard and try to get yourself out of it or you're going to keep doing what you're doing. I think we've done a good job, coaching staff and players, of working our way through our problems and learning from our mistakes."

(On listening to criticism from fans) "I really don't listen to it. I've been playing this game for a long time and I know what I can and I can't do. I'm comfortable in my own skin. People are going to praise you when you don't necessarily deserve it and people are going criticize you when you don't necessarily deserve it. As long as you're comfortable in your own skin and what you're doing and how hard you're working that's really all that matters."

Western Michigan head coach Steve Hawkins

(On the game) "It was a great week for us and not just from the standpoint that we won three ball games, but we played well. I saw some development from the team and from individuals throughout the week. We gained a lot of confidence individually, which helps us collectively as a basketball team and that may be the thing that we got out of this week that matters as much as anything else and should serve us well through the rest of the season."

(On the difference a week makes with three wins) "Consistency was what we were striving for and I think that we found a decent level of consistency throughout the week and I can't tell you how important it is for a team to have confidence and they needed to see if they do things a certain way, they do things correctly from a technique standpoint, to effort and you combine all of it that you're going to get results. There's a direct correlation between work, effort and concentration on the front end and results on the back end."

(On the 3-0 start to MAC play) "We knew in the first place there was no way this team was ever going to be able to contend for a postseason bid throughout our non-conference schedule. We're just too young. I hate to use the term, but there's no question that we knew this was going to be a rebuilding year and at the same time you don't want to go 3-10 going into conference play.

"We knew as a coaching staff changes we wanted to make and we started making them a month ago and told the team we weren't going to show them until conference play because there was just no sense in it. We knew we needed to get off to a quick start."

(On Michael Redell) "He's a very heady player and at times, too cerebral, that's been one of the conversations I've had with over the last three years. He's got very good instincts for the game. It doesn't serve him well to think the game too hard. He should just play the game and trust his instincts. The game is just coming easier to him.

"The other thing that didn't help Mike earlier this year was playing with all these new guys. It didn't help any of us. Somebody's zigging when they should of zagged. Everybody had to get used to everybody and I think we are moving in that direction. People are looking to Mike to get them basketball and he played a tremendous floor game. Not just shooting the ball. Mike did a great job on a very, very good offensive player in DiNunno."