Tom Penders Quotations

We started slowly with attendance. Because I was a hated coach from another school, some people came hoping I would fall on my face. There were other people that embraced me.

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.

We decided to go small and quick and get them playing at a pace that they were uncomfortable with. Of course, you have to shoot reasonably well to set up our press.

We've shown a lot of resiliency. I've been real happy with this team because we haven't given up on the season.

Oliver has discovered that he can do other things (than shoot 3s), which is something we've been on him about since Christmas. I think he's starting to believe it.

If we didn't do that (go small), we lose. Had we walked up and down the floor with them and let them pound it inside, we would have been in much deeper foul trouble, and we would have had nothing on the offensive end. I'll always give up rebounding for defense and great quickness.

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.

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.

We just have to get another streak going. We also need to have a great crowd to come out and say goodbye to our seniors on Wednesday. That's a very important night.

He was in foul trouble. He got touch fouls called. I had to take him out. It's tough to stay in the rhythm.

He spends more time in the pool than on the court.

I think it's huge for the league. We still feel we're still at least a three-bid league.

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.

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.

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.

I think that North Texas is a very nice basketball team. They can shoot it, their big guys are like warriors inside and they are a cohesive team. ... Unless they fall apart, I think they have a chance to win their conference.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yeah, it was disappointing. You want to be in. I'm not about to jump off a building, though. We've had a great year. It was almost one of those years, and maybe that will make us hungrier for the future. We're trying to build a program here.

We got them (the Marshall players) to play fast. I told the kids early on that we just had to come out and hit a couple of (early) shots because then they get caught up in our tempo, going up and down. We broke away from them, and I'm glad we did.

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.

This was a huge win for us. We're on the road against a quality team, and I'm not blowing smoke ? these guys would win many conferences in this country.

We've had more injuries than I could remember. It's like, What's going to happen next?

This team deserves it. This team right now, doing what we just did, not too many teams can do that.

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.

We don't want to shoot a free throw.

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.

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.

I've never had a better defensive team in all the years I've coached. They get after it and play hard every possession.

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.

I've received so many letters and telephone calls, it's hard to keep up. I appreciated it so much. But I'm fine.

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.

That (shot by Henderson) hurt. We played great defense, and then he just kind of flung it up there to beat the shot clock.

This can be a Sweet 16 team. We're going to be really good in February. We're just scratching the surface right now.

It's a good chance for fans to come and meet the players and get to know them a little bit. And it's also a chance for the players to meet the fans, which is always a good thing.

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.

Everybody points to us every game. They know it's a big win if they beat us.

I'm not saying we belong in the tournament, and I'm not going to get on a soapbox and say we deserve a bid. But I am concerned about where (college basketball) is going.

In my opinion he has no confidence in himself right now. If he's playing like he normally is, we don't lose these games. That's the responsibility that comes with being a front-line player.

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.

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.

I didn't even realize they called a technical on me until I was told later. That's absurd, that's all I can say. But I'm not going to say that the officials cost us the game.

You can't hang your head when things go bad. This is when you have to claw back. We're going forward from here, not looking back.