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...
good missed opportunity seven six
When we were up by 10-0, we missed six or seven pretty good looks. We just didn't put them away when we had the opportunity to.
coaching control defensive game ran team until
I thought we were in control of the game until we ran out of bodies. I've been coaching for 32 years, and I've never had a better defensive team than this.
coaching defensive difficult great job open team
I thought we did a great job defensively. We really made it difficult for UCF to get open looks. I've said that I've been coaching for 32 years and I've had some great defensive teams, but I've never had a team that was better defensively than this team.
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.
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.
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.
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.
basketball exciting fans floor help home putting team tournament winning
I think we're doing our job, putting an exciting basketball team on the floor, a winning basketball team on the floor -- a tournament contender. It would help if we had at least 6,000 fans at every home game, but I'm not going to chastise those who haven't been here.
bad boo cities depends easy market people team
It all depends on what market you're in, as to how easy it is. In some cities and towns, a team can be bad and all the people will show up to boo the coach. In Houston, they just don't show up.
chasing dunk happy kept missed onto running tunnel
I really wasn't happy to see him even try to go up and dunk it. If he had missed that he, could have kept on running up the tunnel and out onto Cullen Boulevard. because I would have been chasing him.
conference missouri ncaa six talking valley
I think the Missouri Valley Conference is good, but I don't know who's talking about (five or six NCAA bids) and in what bar.
foul stay touch tough trouble
He was in foul trouble. He got touch fouls called. I had to take him out. It's tough to stay in the rhythm.
condition episodes fast heart morning several stand walk
I have a heart condition and I've had several episodes where I stand up too fast and get lightheaded. I did a three-mile fast walk this morning and probably didn't get enough fluids before the game.
excited feels honored nice potential university
I'm honored and pleased. I'm more excited about the potential of this program, so it's nice that the university feels the same way.