University of Richmond Athletics
The Peter Thomas Story: Former Walk-On Has Come A Long Way Since His Last Visit To South Florida's Sun Dome
12/06/2006 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2006
TAMPA, Fla. - On Dec. 13, 2003, a few months into his freshman year of college, Peter Thomas was in Tampa, Fla., enjoying his fourth road trip as a walk-on on the University of Richmond men's basketball team.The Little Rock, Ark. native was living a dream, playing on a Division I basketball team. The Spiders had just played at nationally ranked Wake Forest a week before, were heading to New York City to play in Madison Square Garden a week later and would be making a trip to Phog Allen Fieldhouse to play Kansas later that season.
He enjoyed the trip to sunny Florida in December and the Spiders pulled out a 70-58 victory over USF. With under a minute to play, Thomas had his name called to check in.
"I was happy just to get in the last 45 seconds," Thomas said. "I touched the ball once, so that was the highlight of the trip for me."
Tuesday night, almost four years to the day from that visit to USF, Thomas was back in the Sun Dome. This time he only came out for about 45 seconds.
A former walk-on turned scholarship player and senior captain, Thomas played his best game in a Spider uniform to lead Richmond to a 56-46 victory over the now-Big East affiliated Bulls. The 6-foot-5 forward scored a career-high 19 points, made 6-of-11 field goals, including 2-of-3 3-pointers.
Thomas made 5-of-6 free throws, including a perfect 4-of-4 in the last 30 seconds to ice the win. He grabbed three rebounds, had a steal for the seventh-straight game, and was the on-court leader to his teammates. Quite a task considering at several points, Thomas found himself surrounded by four freshmen on the court.
"How much can you say about Peter Thomas," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "He's terrific, a former walk-on leading his team to a win on the road against a Big East team. He played terrific, he had some really big baskets."
So on the plane ride back to Richmond after the game, the soft-spoken Thomas was asked to think back to his last visit to the Sun Dome. In the 39 minutes he sat on the bench on Dec. 13, 2003, could he have ever envisioned playing 39 minutes, scoring 19 points and leading Richmond to a victory in the same building as a senior.
"No," was Thomas' honest response. "At that time it would have been kind of a far-fetched dream. I was hoping that, by the time I was a senior I would have gotten in some games and put a couple of shots up, and make a few."
Thomas did not make a shot his freshman year, but he has connected on 111 field goals through last night's game. Thomas has scored 310 points in his career, grabbed 116 rebounds and dished out 101 assists. In his sophomore year, when he was in more of the traditional walk-on role, he played a minute in a NCAA Tournament game, at Kansas' Phog Allen Fieldhouse and at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.
Last season he played 36 minutes in front of a sellout crowd of 18,000 at Louisville's Freedom Hall, scoring nine points and grabbing four rebounds as the Spiders almost knocked off the fifth-ranked Cardinals. To think Rudy has a movie made out of him for one sack at Notre Dame Stadium.
Through seven games this season Thomas is averaging 11.4 points per game, which is second on the team. Thomas has made 37-straight starts and started 47 games in his career.
"Obviously a lot has happened and a lot has changed in four years," Thomas said. "It's amazing to think about."
Thomas ended up at the University of Richmond by chance. He played basketball in high school, but broke his wrist in the summer following his junior year, preventing him from going to any all-star camps.
He had no scholarship offers. Thomas had a list of schools that did not include Richmond. He and his dad took a drive to the Mid-Atlantic region looking at some of the schools on the list. On their way up route 95 in Virginia, Peter's father, Peter, said they should take a look at the University of Richmond. Thomas had no interest, his father persisted.
As is often said to be the case, once Thomas was on the picturesque campus, he knew where he wanted to attend college.
After getting accepted, Thomas contacted former Richmond head coach Jerry Wainwright about walking on. Thomas would play in 18 games that first year, mostly in mop-up duty, but in his sophomore year he started 10 games averaged 12.8 minutes per game.
Enter head coach Chris Mooney for Thomas' junior year. Mooney brought a new offensive style, stressing fundamental basketball.
"This style of play is great for me," Thomas said. "Coach Mooney stresses fundamentals and we work on them so much, it's helped me get better. Last year we had to learn the offense, but now that I have a handle on it, I know when to drive, when not to drive, and I know when to shoot.
Thomas is shooting well, making 59.2 percent from the field (29-of-49) and 40 percent from 3 (6-of-15). He has reached double-figures in five of seven games, including his career-high 19 points Tuesday night.
"Coach Mooney has showed a lot of confidence in me," Thomas said. "I have a lot of confidence in the offense, a lot of confidence in myself, and I know I have to score this year."
While sitting on the Sun Dome bench on Dec. 13, 2003, even Peter Thomas would not have envisioned what he would be doing four years later in the same building.
"That trip was great, we won by about 12 and I got in the game," Thomas said of the 2003 road trip. "But it obviously feels better when you are more of a part of it. A lot of things have happened to make this possible over the past four years."