WESTERN MICHIGAN-EASTERN MICHIGAN QUOTES

Senior guard Shawntes Gary

(On how he felt) "I felt good. I took off just one day of practice to make sure everything was all right, but I felt good coming in today. I kind of just let things come to me. I didn't try to force things or force shots. I was just trying to take what the defense gave me."

(On the 9-0 second half run after EMU cut the lead to five) "We've got to stay focused. We can't have any lapses out there. When they get a big play like that, coach always tells us to get the ball out and try to score within four seconds and that's what we try to do. We got the ball out and Dre got a quick three right away."

Junior guard David Kool

(On Shawntes Gary) "That's big-time for us (to have Gary play well). He's definitely one of our top scorers and we're going to need that all year. When he came in, stayed in the game, stayed out of foul trouble and whenever he's on the floor he is such a great threat for us."

(On letting EMU get back into the game) "We've definitely got to work on that and concentrate on that more and more. Now that we are starting to learn how to win games, we really need to learn to start putting teams away and not let them hang around."

(On attacking the basket today) "I was trying to be more aggressive than last game, because last game I wasn't myself really. I tried to get to the basket and get to the free throw line more."

(On starting to play the MAC East) "We've just to go and focus on this next game. We've got to go back and work hard tomorrow because Buffalo is a great team. It's going to be a battle for first place overall in the MAC. They took us for all we had last year at Buffalo, we're going to have to come out and play our A game at home and get the home crowd behind us. It should be fun."

Freshman forward/center LaMarcus Lowe

(On defending EMU's Brandon Bowdry) "It was a difficult matchup for me. I just looked at it as a challenge. I'm pretty sure (Whitfield) and other guys took that as a challenge. I like challenges and it was a challenge I really wanted to step up and take and I think I handled my challenge pretty well. We came out with the victory.

(On blocking seven shots to tie a school record) "I've been blessed with the ability to block shots. If they stop and pull up, sometime I can go get those shots or at least disturb them."

Head coach Steve Hawkins 

(On the game) "Obviously, a really physical game and it's going to be anytime you play Eastern Michigan. All of them have a football-player mentality. It was very hard fought. Baskets were hard to come by. Rebounds were tough to come by. When you knocked down a shot you really thought you accomplished something in a game like this. We finished the first round of MAC play at 4-1 and three of our games were on the road and we were able to pick up two of the three wins, so that part of things is good. It's not bad for a first round of MAC West play."

(On fighting back from 11-2 down and putting teams away) "I thought we showed great fight early in the game. There are times when we've started off poorly and we have not shown the concentration or fight to get it back and we were able to get it back pretty quick and take a seven-point lead into halftime. That part of things was really good.

"We've got to pay attention to the big picture and that when we got ourselves up 14 we took some quick shots and got some blow-bys defensively. You can't say the ballgame is put away, you've got to do what you've been doing and we didn't do that for that stretch. It's a great learning tool for us to be able to have a lead, have them come back and hang on and it didn't cost us the game. There's plenty for me to complain about come tomorrow's film session."

(On Shawntes Gary) "Shawntes and David both played efficient games. It's not abnormal to not shoot the ball great from three on the road. We talked about attacking the rim on the road. Flen and LaMarcus did a nice job of working fairly well in there. I thought Shawntes and David in particular got a lot of things done around the basket."

(On LaMarcus Lowe's seven blocks) "LaMarcus makes up for a lot of sins you can make on the perimeter and we made plenty of them today. They were able to put a lot of pressure on the rim and LaMarcus was back there and was able to make up for some of those blow bys we made on the perimeter. 

"The thing I thought was great about (his last two blocks), was even though the game was over with, LaMarcus was still fighting. I thought that was significant."

(On 9-0 second half run after EMU cut lead to five) "We come down the court and they lost Andre Ricks and he caught it and didn't hesitate to hit a three. I thought that was a really key moment in the game when they were making a run on us and then we were able to respond with some more stops and more points for a 9-0 run."

(On David Kool) "I don't know if this team is capable of playing a pretty game and I'm fine with that. It's just find a way to win. I thought that David and Shawntes there points were key. They played with a lot of poise when they caught the ball in the paint."

(On playing the MAC East teams) "They're all important. The balance of power is in the East right now and I think a lot of that has to do with them not having as many injured players as the MAC West. There's no question it is a tough stretch and we need to try to pick up as many as we can. We'll just have to wait and see and prepare and see how our kids respond. I do feel good that the first two games are at home."