WESTERN MICHIGAN-NORTHERN ILLINOIS QUOTES

Western Michigan guard David Kool

(On his mindset going into the second half, when he scored 25 of his 31 points) "Just trying to be aggressive. Everybody at halftime was frustrated because we knew we didn't come out with a lot of energy and we didn't come out and play as hard as we would've liked to. Trying to be aggressive and get to the basket. Once those shots start falling, I'm just trying to continue to do that and do anything I can to get on the scoreboard."

(On why the team didn't come out with the energy they wanted) "We just didn't provide energy at the beginning of the game and Northern Illinois is a good team. You can't expect to beat a good team without great energy and without intense focus for 40 minutes and we found that out the hard way tonight. We played hard for 20 minutes. A good team like Northern Illinois is going to knock down open shots and they broke us down in transition and got a lot of open looks. They just torched us tonight."

(On what would help take the load off him) "We just need to keep working. We keep saying that after every game, but that's what it comes down to, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We just need to be focused for 40 minutes and get our assignments (down) and just get it down. That's the bottom line. It's so late in the season, we can't really do much other than do what you are supposed to do. If we do that we're going to be okay. We need to continue to listen to the coaches and continue to learn from our mistakes and when we do that we are a good team and when we don't, we aren't."

Western Michigan head coach Steve Hawkins

(On the game) "I thought that there were a few things that contributed to tonight. We've had some strange games here and I can't remember a ball game since I've been here when we had only two field goals in one half. We really struggled in the first half and we just weren't real aggressive offensively. We've got to get better at getting more players involved other than David and being aggressive early in the game.

"I don't think we're getting enough effort out of our big guys and it's my fault. There is no way around that. We missed 31 shots and we had six offensive rebounds and two of those came from Andre Ricks and two of them were team rebounds, so we had basically four offensive rebounds. We're not getting production down there at that spot and we've got to get better production. We've got to get better defense. We've got to get better offense. It's not like you can bring kids in and work on it, it's got to be there. We just don't have the time to come in and work on things. It's a mindset of coming in and being aggressive."

(On the rest of the team besides David Kool) "Our other players have to step up. We're standing around and watching David work too much. Even when he does get in there and go to work, the other players aren't lifting and moving to an open spot where David can find them. We can't just turn into spectators when David has the ball in his hands."

(On possible lineup changes) "Donald (Lawson) has to be involved. Donald's our best chance at getting a low post scoring threat right now. He's going to have to stay out of foul trouble. We can't have the foul trouble we had tonight. We were handcuffed."

(On how much Northern Illinois' defense bothered WMU in the first half) "I don't know. I'm not trying to take anything away from Northern's defense, but ... we were settling for mid-range jump shots and not being aggressive, putting the ball on the deck, trying to get to the rim and get to the free throw and get the lid off the basket. We had two field goals and 11 free throws. We needed to spend more time at the free throw line. Northern will play behind you. They don't fight around in front. They play behind you. They'll let you throw the ball in and if you're not aggressive and try to get to the rim, they'll make you pay for that. They'll force you into weak jump shots."