Head Coach Steve Hawkins
Thoughts on the game-
"It was a physical game. We showed a lot of film over the first few days of the first game, and a lot of clips showing that they were physical and we weren't. If we were to lose a basketball game tonight, we didn't want it to be because of a lack of physicality. I thought both teams played really hard, and I was really happy with how physical we were. We chased down a lot of loose balls. It looked more like our kind of numbers. A lot of those 10 offensive rebounds they had were very late. I would guess that maybe 4 or 5 of them were late. I thought we did a really great job tonight."
On playing Bowling Green and possibly Central-
"It gets handed to you as soon as the games over with. It's not a bad scenario. I get the feeling that some people think we had a bad season, but I don't think so. There are some games that we would have loved to win that we didn't win, but look at everybody else's record. We're all bunched up. Trying to gain separation is that nightmare everybody has where they can't get away. We battled, we lost 2 buzzer beaters. Here we are now, the 7th seed, and we've won 4 out of the last 7 MAC West titles and been second the other three years. I'm really proud of the kids effort and the way they keep bouncing back. There were some ups and downs, but they responded tonight. We got up to a big lead early but Ball State came back. We have the 7th seed, and I haven't had much of a chance to digest the bracket. I know we play Bowling Green, and if we win then we play Central. Bowling Green's system causes us problems. They have big bodies and we have our work cut out for us. The good thing is that it's spring break, and we have time to get ready for it."
On senior night-
"It is different. We started addressing it earlier. I talked to the guys yesterday and told them that we were switching some things up. We had a commitment dinner, where we sit down, watch film, and everybody talks about what they're going to commit themselves to over the rest of the season. The other part of that that I started doing is when I go ahead and say goodbye to the seniors. There were a lot of feelings and tears last night. David tried to talk but couldn't when we got to it. I think that some of that we were able to get rid of last night. Normally on senior night you come off in a fog and start off slow. Senior nights seem to have a lull in there somewhere."
On fouls-
"I like the fight. I could go back and show you that maybe anywhere between 15 and 18 fouls that I don't mind. We're trying to be physical and fighting for position. It's the other, between 6, 7, or 8 fouls that would be because of poor technique or not intelligent at the point in time that we committed them."
On Randy Davis-
"We talked before the game and said that we needed to treat Davis like Robbie Harmon. He's a little bit of a mix between Harmon and Bitzer, but without the experience. He has a little step back as he's driving that as he releases you just can't get to. We wanted to get into him and eat up his space. He had 19 points. He really earned most of them. We didn't do a great job of getting to him. At halftime we talked about eating up his space. He's a guard that likes to back it up and see the floor, and we can't allow him to do that. When he comes off the screen we really had to help. We needed to treat him how defenses treat David."
On the program as a whole-
"I'm very protective over our program. When people talk about Donald and Martelle and David, and they talk about this and that. First of all, Donald Lawson graduated third in his high school class. Martelle, same situation, he's up right at a 3.0 GPA. It's no trouble, yet there's no mention of that. People tend to only talk about you going 8-8. We could have won twenty games. There's also a great formula for winning 20 games, and that's playing a really soft schedule and bringing in great basketball players that you have to worry about at night. I'd rather play our basketball with our kind of kids than have kids who are in trouble with the law. I sleep on a very soft pillow at night with the type of kids we have in this program."
Senior Forward Donald Lawson
On playing offense-
"We didn't focus on it too much. Ball State is a great defensive team. We had to keep on cracking down."
On what being at Western means to him-
"The atmosphere is great. It's a great college town. Being active in the community and getting to know everyone here."
On what was successful tonight-
"We shared the ball, played better defense, and were very patient offensively to get the shot selection we wanted."
Senior guard Martelle McLemore
On what playing at WMU has meant-
"This was my home for four years. The atmosphere, everyone was always positive. When I was up and down, everyone backed me up. I had fun playing."
On the games to come-
"We have to take it serious. Especially the seniors, it's now or never. If we're not there mentally, that's it for our college career. I'm going to play to the best of my ability Saturday. I'm going to give it all I've got."
Senior Guard David Kool
On getting the home court advantage-
"I think so. Considering the position we were in coming in, I think it's what we wanted. It's great to know we get to play home again on Sunday. It's always good to get a home court game because it's tough to win on the road."
On previously beating Bowling Green-
"They were up on us the whole game and then we did a good job of pressuring them the second half. We know it's going to be a dog fight and we're ready to play. It's going to be a fight on Sunday."
On Central-
"It's a strange feeling, wanting your rival to win a game, but we knew that the game was going to go either way at Eastern. Whoever won that game we might eventually meet up with."
On Randy Davis-
"He's very elusive. He's not the quickest guy in the world, but he uses his ball screens well. He got his confidence going and he did a good job of knocking down great shots. His teammates got him open and you have to give him credit."
On winning as a senior-
"I remember (last year's Senior Day) very vividly. Not sending our seniors out on a high note was hard to take. Us three wanted to come out and play our heatrts our and not lose our final game at home, and we did that."
On being a senior-
"I think it takes a toll. more mentally than physically. It's something you've never experienced before. I look at my parents and I knew they were getting teary eyed, and I was trying not to cry. It was a weird feeling knowing that it may be your lost time to play infront of the crowd here and the community."
Ball State Head Coach Billy Taylor
It's obviously not the way we wanted to finish our regular season, losing 3 in a row. After our Toledo game, I questioned our effort, but tonight I thought we did better. Randy played through pain and injury, and it was important to have him back out there. We fouled too much. We gave up 32 free throws. It was a little unusual on that end, but we have to be able to adjust and play better in these situations. We have to be better on the glass if we want to be successful.
On fouling-
They were definitely calling the game tight both ways. We don't want to foul that much defensively, it's not what we teach. A foul's a mistake the way I look at it. We have to be a lot better. We had opportunities to go to the free throw line but we didn't knock down our shots.
Ball State Guard Randy Davis
On how he played-
"I don't think I was agressive enough coming off of the screens. I let them key in on me."
On WMU being physical-
"I don't think so, they were shoving really hard coming off the screens and doubling for a second, but that's when I have to make the play."
On losing-
"I feel like we let it slip away after our big win against Central. I don't know if we thought other teams were just going to roll over, but we didn't come out ready, and that's why we're in this position."
Ball State Forward Jarrod Jones
On what WMU did well-
"I think they did a good job of pressuring us down low. They made it harder for our guards to get it in. They had a good game plan and it worked our pretty well for them. It forced us to take a lot of jump shots."
