AKRON at WESTERN MICHIGAN QUOTES

Akron Senior Forward Chris McKnight

On guarding David Kool-

"We knew we had to come out and lockdown. He's so good and so fast, you have to guard him with more than one guy. You can't allow him to get open looks, and as a team we try to help everyone."

Akron Head Coach Keith Dambrot

"I met David's brother, Bill, and he has that David Kool jersey on. I want one of those. That guy is terrific, really good player.

"A good ball game, this is a tough place to play ... and we're just fortunate to get out of here with the win. We played well to do it, so I'm proud of our guys. We've just been fortunate that the last couple times we've played a little bit better than them on these particular games. Do we have their number? I don't think so. I just think we just happened to play a good game and they played an average game tonight. And we were fortunate enough to win.

"I love David Kool and I think the thing about him is he's a better person than he is a player. So you almost root for him. I just can't root for him when we play him."

WMU Head Coach Steve Hawkins

Thoughts on the game-

"I thought Akron did a great job of executing. We tried to take them out of it by pressuring, we tried, but we made some mistakes. What basically occurred were some defensive mistakes early. Then they threw in the first shot of the game, and the last shot right before half. If you take those and a couple other defensive mistakes, we were three points away from it being a one possession game at half time. That eight-point lead never went away. The other thing, going into halftime, we were doing a great job of offensive rebounds.  If a few of those put-backs drop, we would have had an extremely close game in the last few minutes. That lead just never went away."

On the difficulty of playing and defending Akron-

"Two things: the combinations of veterans, and the fact that you don't know whats going to happen. They ran some plays for McKnight to get the ball inside, or to get it to him in some iso situations.  The problem is if you get someone to guard him and they drive you, they can finish or hurt you with a three. They can hurt you with some drives and dump-offs. We would start to help, and then they'd kick it for three. They have a lot of players out there. None of them are great, but they're all really good, and they play really well together. That's what I thought things really came down to."

On David Kool-

"Obviously it's the one bright spot. I talked to David's dad and I told him congratulations, and both of them said the same thing, and that is we'd trade it for a win.  That's the kind of kid he is. It's not everyday you have someone break an all-time record of something. This isn't breaking a game record, it's a career.  It has been an incredible privilege to coach this kid. To be able to be around David Kool everyday has been my pleasure as a coach.  Everybody that's played with him and against him have respect for him.  We're all richer for experiencing David's career here for four years. I feel the same way, we would gladly trade it for a win, but you have to stop and recognize the accomplishment."

Sophomore Guard Demetrius Ward

Thoughts on the game-

"We didn't come out with the mind set that we would play hard. We got down pretty early and we stayed there."

On defending Akron-

"It's not just one person. Their whole team is good for eight or nine points. We can't just watch one person because others can beat us also."

On gaining confidence-

"It's been a minute. I'm starting to get my legs finally, and confidence. It's just mentally, and that's what I feel."

On David Kool-

"He's a beast. He's a good player, a team player. I wish we could have won, but he played really good, and we're proud of him. We've got a quick turn around to get back to practice and start over."

Senior Guard David Kool

On breaking the scoring record-

"There's no doubt about it, we would have liked to have had it come a different way, but it happened. I was overjoyed when I heard the crowd cheering as loud as they were with a minute to go. It just means so much to me. It just goes to show you how hard workand perseverance pays off. And I couldn't do it without my teammates over the last four years, they've been great to me. And the coaching staff has been awesome. And my family, they follow me everywhere, I can't do it without their love and support. And then my lord and savior Jesus Christ, I couldn't do it without him either, just keeping me going and pushing me on.

On chasing the record-

"The chase has been real fun, I knew I was going to get here, but it seemed like it was never going to come.  Now that it's here it's a great honor, but I'm glad we can now put it behind us and focus on winning more games."