Head Coach Steve Hawkins

“Tough ball game to take, I thought our effort was there, our physical effort was there, it's no secret missed free throws cost us the game, nobody feels worse about it then the guys and me…”

“I though Thomas was very solid and I thought his game progressed, Taylor was really good, we needed someone to provide an outside punch and I thought Taylor did that for us, he played great defense as well, I thought we did a terrific job down low... It doesn't take much to loose by 2 points, we executed well enough and played well enough to win, so did Akron and we didn't make our free throws…”

“The crowd was terrific, we feed off them, the students had a great turnout, we have our regulars and I can't tell you how comforting it is as a coach to see the same faces in the stands for years, after the national anthem you look around and you see those familiar faces and you say okay everyone is here we can play now, I feel terrible we couldn't come through for them”

Akron Head Coach Keith Dambrot

“Really good game, great atmosphere, typical Akron and Western, two tough teams going at it… Both teams missing guys which is unfortunate but you find out more about your team in those circumstance so I think both teams will benefit down the road… Games like this are really important because both Western and Akron are built on team and this is where you find out what your guys are going to do when they face adversity…

We are both old school hard nose teams, they have great kids, they are what college athletics are about, I have a lot of respect for Western… Both teams wanted to win badly…”