WESTERN MICHIGAN at BALL STATE QUOTES

Guard David Kool

(On the first half) "We didn't come out with a lot of energy and that is on us. They took it to us pretty good. You've got to give them the credit. We're not going to sit up here and make any excuses. They came out and dominated us in the first half."

(On the lack of energy in the first half) "I can't put a finger on it. It's up to the seniors on the team to take care of it. We're going to go back to practice. Coach told us the league's not over, the season's not over, we're going to take this as it is, learn from it and we'll be okay."

Forward Flenard Whitfield

(On the problems in the first half) "I don't think they were tougher than us. I just think they came out with more energy and were more ready to play. I just think it's up to us. We have a lot of energy at home and need to bring it on the road."

(On the physicality of the game) "I expected the game to be physical. The MAC is a physical conference and it's always going to be like that. We always come out physical because we're known for our physicality and I think they matched it pretty well."

Guard Alex Wolf

(On scoring a career-high 18 points) "I was getting the ball in my hands and trying to create something for the team, but when you look at it, it's a loss. I'm not too excited about it."

Head Coach Steve Hawkins

(On the first half) "We missed a lot of shots. We only scored four points in the first 10 minutes of the game and it was at that point I felt like our offensive frustration led to some defensive mistakes. It wasn't energy. It wasn't not being ready to play or anything like that. We just missed a ton of shots we normally hit. We were as cold as we could be. We made some defensive mistakes and that's where our lack of mental toughness came in. We had ourselves a two-possession game and we hadn't scored much. We pressured the ball and they started to drive it and we didn't respond to that and a six-point lead goes to double digits. Now they are playing with momentum. We tried to get our feet back under us, but Donald Lawson gets called for a ridiculous foul and he goes to the bench. We talked at halftime and wanted to get the game to 10 with under 10 to play and we got close. We just dug ourselves too big a hole."

(On Ball State's offense) "We didn't do a good job guarding the drive. We couldn't keep the ball in front us and that's not us. We're able to defend a lot better than that. Some of the problems we encountered offensively, affected us mentally defensively. Mikey, Demetrius, Alex Wolf are guys that can keep guys in front of them. Davis and Scaife are good players, but they aren't lightening quick and we should have been able to keep them in front of us. Anytime you allow them to get the rim anything can happen."