Courtesy Matt Holmes, WMU Media Relations
• In his last five games (all vs. the MAC East), MAC Player of the Year candidate David Kool is averaging 26.6 points per game by shooting 48.9 percent from the field, 46.4 percent behind the arc and made 32-of-36 free throws. Kool has become the career leader in points at Western Michigan with 1,893 points (surpassing Manny Newsome’s record of 1,787 set in 1964), which is 15th in Mid-American Conference history.
• Kool is one of only eight players in the country to score 30 or more points in at least five games.
• Kool has made two game-winning baskets this season in the waning moments. He hit a floater in the lane with four seconds remaining to defeat Sam Houston State, 74-73. He stole the ball and hit a bank shot with four seconds remaining to defeat Bowling Green, 65-64. He also hit the go-ahead basket with seven seconds left with a 19-foot fadeaway jumper at Kent State.
• Kool has been racking up awards this season as a three-time MAC West Player of the Week and four-time MAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Week.
• Kool hit the game-winning basket with 4.2 seconds remaining to defeat Bowling Green, 65-64. Kool finished with 23 points, including WMU’s last seven, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Flenard Whitfield added 10 points and Demetrius Ward had eight rebounds.
• WMU trails Ohio, 58-61, in the all-time series after splitting a pair of games last season. The Broncos won in Kalamazoo, 76-62, but the Bobcats won in the MAC Tournament, 62-55. The Broncos are 18-42 all-time in Athens and have lost six in a row since winning, 78-74, in overtime on Jan. 22, 2000. Head coach Steve Hawkins is 3-5 against Ohio.
• The Broncos hold the lead in the race for the 2010 MAC Men’s Basketball Championship by defeating Eastern Michigan on Jan. 9 and Central Michigan on Jan. 16. Since the award’s inception in 2006, the Broncos have won the award every year, including outright championships in 2006, 2007 and 2009.
• Donald Lawson has blocked a MAC-high 19 shots in conference play to move into fourth all-time in career blocks at WMU with 91. Overall, he ranks third in the MAC in rebounding (7.3 rpg), second in blocks (1.48 bpg) and ninth in field goal percentage (.493).
• The Broncos are 11-3 this season when they out-rebound the opposition. The Broncos are first in rebound margin (+4.1) and second in defensive rebounds per game (25.13), rebounds per game (38.5) and offensive rebounds per game (13.35) in the MAC.
• The Broncos have held nine teams under 40 percent shooting this season and three teams under 30 percent. WMU ranks second in the MAC allowing opponents to shoot .403 from the field.