Violations reflected in Huskies’ record book

As a sophomore in 201617, Jalen Adams scored 404 total points, an average of 14.4 per game. He hit a layup with 2.9 seconds left to clinch a win at Temple, and poured in a careerhigh 34 points in a Maui Invitational loss to Oklahoma State.

The following season, Adams became the 50th member of UConn’s career 1,000point club. He averaged 18.1 points per game over 30 contests and was never better than when he just missed a tripledouble (29 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists) against Tulsa.

Any fan watching any of those games saw it all with their own two eyes.

According to the NCAA, however, almost none of it ever happened.

Adams, it turns out, was an ineligible player for all but one game in those two seasons. He and a pair of teammates, Terry Larrier and Rodney Purvis, had undergone workouts with Derrick Hamilton, a trainer and close friend of thenUConn coach Kevin Ollie, in Atlanta during the summer of 2016. Those workouts were among the reasons Ollie was fired in March, 2018, with cause, and the NCAA ultimately sided with UConn’s decision.

So, since UConn was effectively playing with three ineligible players in 201617, and two (Adams and Larrier) for nearly all of 201718, records from those games have been vacated in the eyes of the NCAA.

That means that UConn was officially 00 in 201617 and 01 in 201718. The only game that counted in the latter season was the Huskies’ AAC tournament, seasonending loss to SMU. Why? Because Adams and Larrier made restitution to the NCAA in the minutes before the game started.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Larrier and Adams didn’t play very well. Larrier shot 5for17 from the floor and missed all four 3point attempts. Adams was just 3for11 and finished with a mere six points, his seasonlow.

Or, in the eyes of the NCAA, his seasonhigh, as well.

A few days later, Ollie was fired for cause. This past July, the NCAA Committee on Infractions ruled that UConn had violated NCAA

rules with those workouts, and that Ollie bore responsibility for them as the head of the program. The COI also found that Ollie was not forthcoming or cooperative with its investigation.

The results: Ollie was hit with a threeyear showcause penalty. As for the program, the NCAA upheld UConn’s selfimposed reduction of one scholarship for the 201920 season and added several others, including putting the program on a twoyear probation, recruiting restrictions and a vacation of records.

UConn fans probably aren’t sad to see those team records erased. The Huskies went 1617 overall in 201617 and 1418 in 201718. In the school’s media guide, both seasons are recorded just as any other — with results of each game listed underneath the team’s overall and league records — with a note at the bottom of each entry. For 201617, that note reads “33 Games Vacated; official NCAA record 00.” For 201718 it reads, “31 Games Vacated; official NCAA record 01.”

The UConn media guide handles the three players in similar fashion. Beneath the career statistics of Adams, Larrier and Purvis are notes that their games from those seasons were vacated, except for the March 8, 2018 loss to SMU.

To its credit (and with some prodding by the NCAA), UConn acknowledges the situation in its media guide. On page 16, a sevenparagraph note explains the NCAA’s decision, the program’s penalties, etc.

Of course, Adams and Purvis finished their respective careers with 1,706 and 1,301 points, No. 10 and No. 22, respectively, on

POLL POSITION

The Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll will be released on Monday at noon. UConn won’t be in it, but will the Huskies be in it at some point this season? We’ll see. We’re happy to be Connecticut’s voting representative for the AP poll again this season. Here’s the preseason ballot we turned in last week:

1. Michigan State

2. Louisville

3. Duke

4. North Carolina

5. Florida

6. Kentucky

7. Gonzaga

8. Texas Tech

9. Kansas

10. Memphis

11. Villanova

12. Seton Hall

13. Baylor

14. Maryland

15. Xavier

16. Virginia

17. Ohio State

18. Washington

19. LSU

20. Harvard

21. Mississippi State

22. Utah State

23. North Carolina State

24. VCU

25. Houston

UConn’s alltime list.

They are both still listed in those spots in the school’s media guide — with asterisks. For Purvis, it reads “33 games vacated; official NCAA total 709 points.” For Adams: “61 games vacated; official NCAA total 709 points.”

Those other 997 points you thought you saw Adams score over those two seasons? Never happened, according to the NCAA.

Tyler Kaufman / Associated Press Jalen Adams (6), now with the New Orleans Pelicans, has had 997 points he scored at UConn expunged from the record book, according to the NCAA.