Thomas Gardner Quotations

We struggled in the first half and we put ourselves in a hole. That's something we've been struggling with the whole year. When you put yourself in a hole against a good team, it's going to be hard to fight back.

Where is there to quit? We've still got eight or nine games left. The season is still not over. I owe it to Jimmy and Cap (Kevin Young), it's their senior seasons, and to myself and my teammates not to quit.

Nothing against Baylor, but being in last place behind Baylor is kind of embarrassing.

We take a win any way we can get it right now. We're 5-4; we're trying to end up 7-4 before conference. Now we've got a quick turnaround to get ready for Oakland and Calvin Wooten, who's averaging 24.

He was speechless. He broke down. It was hard for him to get the words out. . . . I cried when he broke down.

I think it was just a conscious effort just to play better. I think if we had played like this throughout this losing streak a lot of games would have gone differently. I thought tonight, after the game a lot of players really hurt because of the loss. Early with a loss, we'd just get accustomed to it. This is a game that really hurt because I think that people really played their heart out and really tried to win.

Last year, our team kind of splintered and we relied on 3-pointers to get us back into the game. We never really took it one play at a time. Personally, that was something that I relied on a lot last year. It was just a really up-and-down season, and when you struggle, you tend to rely on what you do best. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I was doing best last year.

I said earlier that if coach Watkins is here, I would definitely come back.

You always as a player are going to be frustrated when things don't end up the way you want them to. We're out there to have fun, and with our losses it hasn't been fun, but you've got to find spots and areas where you can laugh and still enjoy being out there on the court.

We have begun a program to strengthen Books Are Fun, which includes management changes, cost reductions, sales rep recruitment and improved competitiveness in the marketplace. We believe that America's leading display marketing company will regain its vitality, and that the moves we are making are the right ones to put it back on that path, although these steps will take time to flow through to improved operating results.

Those shots have been going in all year against us. My heart kind of dropped. Luckily, he missed it, and luckily Kevin (Young) didn't get called for a foul for reaching in.

We knew Coach Snyder wasn't that type of guy. It would have been easier for him to quit earlier in the season, but we've been through so much we knew he didn't quit.

We missed 17 (shots) in a row? We really did?

The shots weren't going for us, so we made it a habit of getting to the basket and we got into the penalty early in the second half.

Right now we're still trying to search for that win. It doesn't get any easier. ... It's all in our control. We're the ones playing. All the coaching staff can do is continue to create strategies and game plans for us to go out and execute. We have to play the game.

Our shots just weren't going in. But we were still able to hold them to 28 points and only be down eight at the half.

Coach Snyder is the guy I want to play for, and I'm going to continue to play for. My senior year I want to play for Coach Snyder. ... It's not something that I'm thinking about right now because I'm playing for him right now, but at the end of the year, when the season's over ...

Coach said in the first half he thought I gave up on my team.

This is probably my least favorite arena to play in. We really can't blame it on the arena. The hoops are still 10 feet. You still have to put the ball in the hole. But I just never really liked it. That's just my own opinion.

This is the same predicament we were in last year. We can't lose this many games in a row in league and expect to finish in the top half.

It's always around you. It's on campus every day, it's in the papers and stuff, so it's easy to look at it.

The next day, we're doing pre-practice work and he comes in with jeans on. Coach has never worn jeans to practice. From there we kind of knew something was wrong.

I've had a chance to sit down and talk with everyone involved, my family, coaches and teammates, and everyone has been so supportive, including our fans.

It was one of the best defenses that I've faced all year. They made it tough for me to get open. I turned it over three or four times, I've got to get better.

I need to do everything in my power to show that I'm with this team. As a leader of the team you really can't justify what happened today (Saturday). I have a totally different perspective on my team. They showed a lot of heart. Hopefully, I can get back in there and play the same way they played in the second half.

In a big game you always want to perform well, and I think I was just a little over-anxious in the first half. I think that was evident in my shots going long or short, kind of wanting to get that first shot so bad to go in.

I just decided I could handle school, and that it was important to be here for Coach. My relationship with Coach has been a lot stronger than some of the players, and that's the reason I showed up.

He told us sometimes things don't always go as planned or how you wanted them to. He said you could learn a lot from basketball. That it transfers off the court. It was about us as men. It was a good conversation.

I called (Watkins) and told him that I thought it would be best if we didn't (have practice) because the production wouldn't be as good as it needed to be. You kind of just isolate yourself from the gym.