Penders' Comments after Coogs 70 to 63 win over Rice

Kudos to whoever was involved with the University of Houston in getting a big crowd of students to attend Wednesday night's UH - Rice game at Hofheinz Pavilion. The students created a loud, exciting atmosphere as 6,115 fans saw the Cougars hold on to defeat the Owls 70 to 63.

Houston (11-9, 5-2) opened the game with two dunks from forward Dion Dowell and never trailed in the game.

Rice's Morris Almond, the Owls' All-America candidate, was limited to 21 points (six below his 27.4 ppg scoring average) as Marcus Malone did an excellent job defending Almond one-on-one. Houston's team defense helped hold Almond to just 16 field goal attempts and just three free throw attempts.

Houston shot 21 for 30 from the foul line while Rice (10-10, 4-3) shot just six for 15 from the charity stripe.

The Coogs led 36 to 23 at the half. Jahmar Thorpe, Houston senior forward, scored 10 points in the game's opening 20 minutes.

Thorpe and Dowell each scored 16 points while junior guard Robert "Fluff" McKiver led the Coogs with 21 points; and Oliver Lafayette chipped in with 12 points.

Rodney Foster scored 11 points for Rice.

UH heads to El Paso, TX, this Saturday, February 3, for an evening match-up with UTEP. Tip-off is set for 8:05 pm.

Listen to Coach Penders' post-game comments:

"...led from start to finish..."

"...get this kind of crowd..."

"...better defensively..."

"...NCAA Tournament..."