Rodney Purvis had his coming-out party as a UConn Husky, scoring 19 points on 8-15 shooting against a solid Dayton team on Friday. With the win, UConn moves to the championship game of the Puerto Rico tipoff, where they’ll face one of two former Big East foes, Boston College or West Virginia.
Ryan Boatright had another sensational game, scoring 20 points on 6-12 shooting with 4 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and a block, as he continues to fill up the stat sheet.
For those of us who watched unimpressive wins over Bryant and College of Charleston, as well as generally uninspired play in the preseason, this game went a long way towards answering several key questions:
1) Can UConn beat good teams right now?
Dayton isn’t an elite team, but they’re coming off an Elite 8 season and they expect to be in the NCAA tournament. An 11-point, neutral-court win over a likely tournament team is a quality win.
2) Can Ryan Boatright replace Shabazz Napier?
Color me shocked, but so far this season, Boatright’s been every bit the player Napier was last season. He’s still not quite the shooter or ballhandler that Napier was last season (though he’s getting close), but his superior athleticism has allowed him to be a better finisher around the rim, not to mention his continued dominant on-ball defense. It’s early, but Boatright’s penchant for providing value as a scorer, rebounder, distributor, and defender have him in contention for a potential All-American nod.
3) Where will the shooting come from?
As you’ve no doubt heard, the departures of Napier, Daniels, and Giffey cost UConn their three best long-range shooters. Other than Boatright, there was no obvious replacement on the roster this year, but early returns show that Purvis (2-4 from 3) and Hamilton (3-5) can be significant threats from there.
4) What’s wrong with Rodney Purvis?
Nothing, apparently. Purvis didn’t impress in two exhibition games or his regular-season opener against College of Charleston (he was suspended against Bryant for reasons passing understanding), but he looked suspiciously like a McDonald’s All-American against Dayton, shooting well from distance and getting to the basket in transition and off the bounce. As UConn is relying on Purvis to be a reliable second scorer and take pressure off of Ryan Boatright, his performance in this game was extremely reassuring.
In addition to Purvis, the Huskies got another strong game from freshman Daniel Hamilton (14 points on 5-9 shooting, 3-5 from 3, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block), giving the Huskies a reliable third scorer.
Not every question was answered, however. UConn’s interior play remains inconsistent, though Amida Brimah had a dominant stretch in the second half where he blocked three shots on one possession and then scored on a nice low-post move on the other end of the court. Kentan Facey had a solid game with 6 points and 5 rebounds, but Phil Nolan struggled again. All three players struggled with fouls in this game, though part of that can be attributed to some aggressive officiating, particularly in the first half.
So there it is: a win against a quality team in which most of the team played well. Stop complaining, everyone.
