Tom Penders
Tom Penders
Thomas Vincent "Tom" Pendersis a retired college basketball head coach, who last coached from 2004 through 2010 at the University of Houston. He is from Stratford, Connecticut and has a 649-437 career record. As a college athlete, Penders played both basketball and baseball for the University of Connecticut, and is one of the few players to have competed in both the NCAA Tournament as well as the College World Series...
anybody arizona beaten knows lobby memphis saw sweet taken teams tournament worse
If anybody saw (the Memphis game) and knows we've beaten Arizona and LSU, if they don't think we're a tournament team, then they don't know basketball. I've taken worse teams than this to the Sweet 16. I don't think I have to lobby for it.
beat coming empty good great kept shoot teams
We just kept coming up empty and empty and empty. You can't beat good teams when you shoot 25 percent. To beat a great team like Memphis, you have to shoot at least 40 (percent) and play great defense.
deserves team teams
This team deserves it. This team right now, doing what we just did, not too many teams can do that.
build create easy force regular run style teams trying
That's our game. Pressure. Try to create some easy buckets. That's what we're trying to build here first. That's the foundation. It's a different style and it is not conservative. We try to force teams not to run their regular stuff.
defense east foul game island minutes played solid teams
We played 40 minutes of solid defense. We didn't get in foul trouble. We want to play teams like Rhode Island and (teams in) the Big East where you know how the game is going to get called.
committee final five giant guy later lewis pick ranked recruiting retired school since sleeping sort teams tends
Being ranked is important for recruiting and credibility and later on when they pick teams in March, the committee tends to look at that as some sort of barometer. It's a sleeping giant here. It's been down since Guy Lewis retired in 1986, but it's a tradition-rich school with five Final Fours and banners all over the place.
hard letters received telephone
I've received so many letters and telephone calls, it's hard to keep up. I appreciated it so much. But I'm fine.
defensive hard team
I've never had a better defensive team in all the years I've coached. They get after it and play hard every possession.
ball beginning caliber early edgar good guard hitting injuries inside players playing point rough season shame start stride strong team top
They are an outstanding ball club. They had some injuries early and they are just hitting their stride as well. Doc Sadler has got his team playing really, really well. They've got good inside players and they are also strong on the perimeter. And they have an experienced point guard in Edgar Moreno. They are an outstanding club. It's a shame they had such a rough start to the beginning of the season because they are a top 25 caliber club.
arizona beating best defensive final focus giddy guys indicative kids margin pressure quick rather score talented team turned
Rather than get giddy after beating LSU, which is an unbelievably talented team, the guys immediately turned their focus on Arizona and that final score wasn't indicative of the margin of that game. This is best defensive team I've ever had. They really get after it. These are very athletic, quick long-armed kids who pressure all over.
free shoot
We don't want to shoot a free throw.
absolutely ahead anybody ball beat best focus lose playing
We should be playing our best ball in February. We have to go out and focus on each game. We can't look ahead ? we can beat absolutely anybody and we can lose to absolutely anybody.
coached disrespect fire game lecture win
There's no fire-and-brimstone lecture (for tonight's game). It's a game we want to win because we want to win our 19th game, and we want to play in the postseason. Not because it's Rice. And that's no disrespect to Rice. I've never coached that way.
beat came empty house maybe rent
We have to look at this as a payback game. They came into our house ? and granted, it was an empty house ? and beat us. Maybe I'll go down there and rent some fans.