Ollie lifts suspensions, plus more UConn news
Some UConn basketball news from Friday:
-- The Huskies practiced Friday with nearly a full team for the first time this week. They are preparing for Sunday’s non-conference showdown with No. 7 Texas at noon at Gampel Pavilion.
-- Coach Kevin Ollie reinstated junior Omar Calhoun and freshman Rakim Lubin, two reserves suspended Sunday for a violation of team rules. Both players sat out Sunday’s Puerto Rico Tip-Off Championship game against West Virginia, but only Lubin was healthy enough to play.
Lubin returned to practice on Thursday while Calhoun, who continues to recover from a right knee MCL sprain, went through a light workout.
All of the Huskies are on a short leash, according to Ollie who declined to specify the team rules violation. Walk-ons Dan Guest and Marcel Lewis also were suspended.
“Hopefully, as a man, you learn your lesson…,” Ollie said. “They’ve got two choices: to get better from it or leave the program.”
-- Starting guard Rodney Purvis expects to play Sunday. He sprained his left ankle injury early in the first half against West Virginia and returned to practice on Friday.
“I’ll be fine,” Purvis said.
-- During a conference call Friday, Texas coach Rick Barnes talked about Kevin Ollie’s playing and coaching days.
When Barnes coached at Providence College, Ollie drove the length of the court to score the game-winning basket with three seconds left in a 79-78 win in January 1994. It was Ollie’s only field goal attempt.
“What I loved about him as a player, kind of the way he is as a coach now, is his personality,” Barnes said. “He’s going to compete. He’s going to take care of business. You could tell as a player that he was prepared.
“…. You just have to be impressed with his class and the way he handles things. … It’s easy to understand that he’s going to be tremendously successful.”
-- The Longhorns will be without staring point guard Isaiah Taylor (left wrist), who’s been sidelined since Nov. 20.
Demarcus Holland and Javan Felix have filled in during Taylor’s absence.
“In terms of what we’ve tried to do, we really haven’t changed that much,” Barnes said. “We just can’t do some of the things that we would normally do.”
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.