STORRS — Rodney Purvis will have to wait until Nov. 20 for his regular season debut in a UConn basketball uniform. Purvis sat out Friday’s season opener against Bryant at Gampel Pavilion under penalty from the NCAA.
UConn was informed Thursday that the NCAA suspended Purvis for one game because of his summer league participation. Purvis violated NCAA rules by participating in more than one summer league, playing in a game in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C., and then one in the Greater Hartford Pro Am in Waterbury.
Purvis, a transfer from North Carolina State, sat out last season under NCAA transfer rules.
UConn’s compliance office had been in contact with the NCAA since last summer. The Huskies were informed Thursday that Purvis had been given a one-game suspension.
“It is what it is, that’s life,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said Thursday. “He’s here, you deal with it and be ready to play in Puerto Rico. He’s going to have a great season for us, we’re just going to have to wait 40 more minutes.”
The ruling is not unusual. Last season, Kansas guard Naadir Tharpe missed the season opener for the Jayhawks for the same reason. Tharpe went to visit teammate Jamari Taylor in Chicago and joined in one summer league game. He also received a one-game suspension.
Purvis will be eligible beginning with UConn’s game vs. College of Charleston in the Puerto Rico Tip Off on Nov. 20.
“He’ll be all right, it’s only one game,” said senior guard Ryan Boatright, who missed nine games his freshman season due to an extensive NCAA investigation regarding travel benefits with his AAU team. “I keep telling him [kiddingly], ‘You’re lucky it’s only one game.’ … He’s known about it since the summertime, so he’s had time to prepare for it.”
With Omar Calhoun still recovering from a sprained right knee, UConn played Bryant with just eight scholarship players. Calhoun was in street clothes. Ollie said Thursday that Calhoun is progressing well and could play in Puerto Rico.
Sam Cassell Jr., the shooting sensation of the preseason, moved into the starting lineup with Purvis out. He joined Daniel Hamilton, Ryan Boatright, Kentan Facey and Amida Brimah.
Walk-on guard Dan Guest from West Hartford, a transfer from George Washington, was available to play. Guest was wearing No. 29.
“We’ve got a lot of guards,” Ollie said. “You know our roster.”
RECRUITING UPDATE
Thursday was a day of recruiting rejection for UConn. Some top prospects selected some top programs but the Huskies came up empty – a fact of life when pursuing the top talent. UConn invested a lot of energy in Tevin Mack, a 6-7 wing player from South Carolina, but Mack chose Virginia Commonwealth. Guard Isaiah Briscoe, a five-star guard from Union, New Jersey, selected Kentucky. And Derrick Jones, a small forward from Philadelphia, chose UNLV.
Jalen Adams and Steve Enoch, UConn’s two commitments, have both indicated on Twitter that their signed letters of intent are in the mail. UConn has yet to confirm that they have been received.
UConn target Diamond Stone, a 6-10 center from Milwaukee, is expected to announce his decision Nov. 21.
FINAL FOUR SITES ANNOUNCED
For the first time since 1995, the NCAA is taking the Final Four to the West Coast.
The Division I Men’s Basketball Committee announced Friday that Phoenix was among five cities selected from eight finalists to host the Final Four for the years 2017-2021. The Valley of the Sun will host the event at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale in 2017, becoming the first western city selected since Seattle staged the Final Four in 1995.
Other cities chosen by the committee to host in future years include San Antonio in 2018, Minneapolis in 2019 and Atlanta in 2020. The committee elected to award the 2021 Final Four to Indianapolis, which as the home of the NCAA headquarters has a unique long-term contractual relationship that guarantees the Men’s Final Four will be held regularly in the city.
RING CEREMONY
The members of the 2014 NCAA champion Huskies received their championship rings in a pre-game ceremony about 15 minutes before tipoff Friday. . Shabazz Napier’s mother was on hand to receive the ring for Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. Other than the student section, Gampel Pavilion was basically half empty during the ceremony. . . . Senior point guard Ryan Boatright, in attendance from Aurora, Ill., got a big kiss from his mother during pregame warmups.
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