Balanced Huskies share the wealth
Finish off exhibition games with a rout of New Haven
Hartford — For second straight exhibition game, UConn shared the scoring wealth on Saturday.
The Huskies are hoping their unselfish mentality leads to riches for the entire team this season.
Nobody scored more than 11 points for UConn in an 83-43 rout of Division II New Haven in an exhibition finale at the XL Center.
And nobody is focused on individual statistics.
"That's fine," red-shirt junior Rodney Purvis said. "It shows up as 'W' in the most important column, so we're not worried about stats. Once we get rolling and winning, everyone is going to look good."
The 20th-ranked Huskies looked good on Saturday.
They improved in several areas from last Sunday's exhibition win over Division II Tampa. They cranked up the tempo, leading to 24 fast-break points, dominated the boards (43-26) and increased their defensive intensity, forcing 20 turnovers and limiting New Haven to 30.8 percent shooting.
It was just a better all-around effort in the final tuneup before Friday's season opener against Maine in Storrs.
"That's what I want to see," coach Kevin Ollie said. "I put on the board I want us to have a return on our investment. I think these guys really invested in the summer and they're working tremendously hard in practice. It was good to see everybody
out there having fun and being able to get in the books and score.
"Overall, I thought it was a good game. We played some real solid good defense. ... The guys shared the basketball and shared the game. We played fast and we played free and we played physical, too."
It's hard to pinpoint an offensive standout given that seven players had at least eight points, with Purvis and freshman Steven Enoch leading the way with 11 points apiece. Junior Amida Brimah added nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
The Huskies are embracing their balance. They'll be more difficult to defend if opponents can't focus on stopping just a few players.
"Normally when you play on a team with a lot of weapons guys are selfish," Purvis said. "This team is very, very unselfish. This team right here is very special. I'm going to continue to say that."
UConn took care of business on Saturday, jumping out to a quick advantage, building an 18-point gap at halftime and leading by as many as 40.
Ollie started the same five as the previous game, going with a veteran lineup of Sterling Gibbs, Purvis, Daniel Hamilton, Shonn Miller and Brimah. He subbed early and often.
UConn's transition game was fun to watch.
Several different Huskies pushed the pace. Early in the second half, Purvis and Hamilton worked a nice passing combination on the break, leading to an easy layup by the former. Later, Purvis fed Miller for a dunk off transition.
Purvis, who was aggressive on both ends, and Hamilton shared the team-high for assists with four. Ollie referred to Purvis as "Hot Rod." "Once he gets a rebound, he is a oneman fast break," Ollie said. "There is nobody in America that's faster than him from free throw line to free throw line. Now it's him slowing down and making good decisions."
UConn's two freshmen — Enoch and Adams — also had another growth spurt. Enoch, an agile 6-foot-11, 245-pound forward, converted a couple nice low post moves after having more fouls (3) than points (zero) in the first exhibition game. The energetic Adams (nine points, three assists, three steals) set Enoch up for a dunk with a nifty bounce pass.
"I kept my head in this exhibition game," said Enoch, who played at St. Thomas More last year. "I went way harder than I did last game and moved my feet a lot more."
About the only downside for the Huskies on Saturday: reserve big man Phil Nolan left the game early in the second half with right foot injury and didn't return. He'll have x-rays today, according to Ollie who added that Nolan's status is day-to-day. g.keefe@theday.com Twitter: @GavinKeefe