Some interesting words from Kevin Ollie, Rodney Purvis

Some notes and quotes from after today's practice, as UConn prepares for its NIT bout with Arizona State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Gampel.

*** Ryan Boatright sat out of practice and is questionable for Wednesday's game. He suffered what appears to be a mild subluxation of his left shoulder after being hit coming off a screen in Sunday's loss to SMU.

“We’re just gonna treat the heck out of it," said Kevin Ollie. "Knowing him, he’ll be out there. But if he’s not, we’ll just go with the guys we’ve got.”

“Ryan’s a tough guy," Ollie added. "Hopefully, he’s back out tomorrow. If he can’t go, Terrence is gonna fill in, Rodney is gonna fill in, and we’re gonna play with the guys we’ve got.”

*** Daniel Hamilton attended his grandmother's funeral on Tuesday and was slated to fly home Tuesday night on a red-eye flight and be available for Wednesday's game (albeit, most likely, a bit tired).

*** Kentan Facey was cleared to practice on Tuesday, but only non-contact drills. If he wakes up and feels alright on Wednesday, he should be cleared to play.

*** Ollie on the lack of respect the selection committee appeared to show the AAC:



*** Ollie on Rodney Purvis's strong play lately:

“He’s getting the ball fullcourt and going down with a head of steam. It’s very, very hard to stop him when he starts doing that. And his 3-ball is going, and he’s making more of his free throws, which is gonna be a key to him if he wants to be an explosive scorer. Because he’s gonna get to the rim, he’s gonna get fouled a lot. For him to convert two free throws will really give him the momentum to keep attacking.”

“We’re seeing glimpses of what Rodney can do.”

(on Arizona State)

“Great transition team. They’ve got four JUCO transfers, they’ve got good, talented basketball players. And everybody can score. They usually play four-out, one-in, with Jacobsen in the middle. When he goes out, they bring in another shooter. There are gonna be a lot of shooters around the court.”

“They play four guards, sometimes they play (6-foot-6 Savon) Goodman at the five, so it’s gonna be a situation where I’ve got four guards out there. It’s not big deal. We’re just gonna go out there, whoever shows up and is willing to play, we’re gonna push them to play hard and we’re gonna prepare them to play the same way.”

(on Boatright ending his senior year on a down note)

“It’s tough, but he had a great senior year. Hopefully he remembers that, and hopefully the fans remember that. He had a remarkable, remarkable senior year. Yeah, it’s tough and all that stuff in the last game. But the games before that and what he was doing, there’s no way we would have been there. I was playing him 40 minutes. The guy’s not a robot, he’s a human being. It’s said that he went 1-for-12, but please don’t remember him that way.”

*** Rodney Purvis had some interesting things to say.

(is it strange practicing without Boatright, Hamilton, Facey?)

“Yeah, it is. But that’s what you have other players for, other Division 1 players for. Terrence is gonna have to step up really, really big ... I’m not sure if Daniel’s gonna come back.”

“He’s supposed to," said a reporter.

“Oh, he is? Thank God.”

(on Terrence Samuel needing to step up if Boatright is out)

“His number hasn’t been called that much this year, because of the greatness of Boatright. I just feel like he’s got to be ready to step up and be ready to make plays for us (Wednesday).”

(on how much the high ankle sprain early in the season affected him)

“It took a really, really long time. I was able to kind of plant off it, but not really have my full explosion. I can’t really gauge the time. I feel like I was able to contribute. I probably wasn’t scoring as best as I could, but I think I did a pretty good job on the defensive end, just trying to do different things.”

A reporter asked if it bothered him in his strong game at Florida.

“Florida? I kinda struggled in that game ... Oh yeah, when I came back in and hit a couple of big 3’s. I didn’t really need my ankles for that. That was mainly just catch and shoot, you know?”

*** Purvis noted that "next year is starting now" for the Huskies.

"Not only with me, but our entire team. Everybody’s confidence just has to go up a little bit. Boatright did a whole lot for us, carried us the whole season. Guys have got to start coming into themselves, because there’s gonna be no more Boatright.”

He added that he's looking forward to being more of a leader next season.

“I definitely am. This year, I kinda had to sit back a little bit and learn from Boat. Kinda waiting my turn, you know? It was kind of frustrating at times, I’ve got to be honest, because I was looking forward to coming in and being more. But I can blame some of that on myself. I wasn’t really ready to play a lot of the games. I’ve been going through a lot this whole entire season. I had a lot of things on my (plate), so I tried to put that to the side and play with a free mind.”

(on what he knows about Arizona State)

“I know they play like four guards, so this game is gonna be fun.”

(on potential for fatigue)

“We’re all 19, 20 years old, so there shouldn’t be any issues getting ready to play (Wednesday).”