Rodney Purvis: Connecticut Basketball's Most Important Player

As the Connecticut Huskies cut down the nets after winning last season’s NCAA title game over the Kentucky Wildcats, Rodney Purvis celebrated with his teammates despite being unable to play a single minute due to NCAA transfer rules.

A former 5-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American out of high school, Purvis began his college career at North Carolina State before deciding to bolt for Connecticut. He felt that UConn gave him the best opportunity to progress and develop into the player he wanted to become, even though he averaged double digits in points during his freshman campaign as a member of the Wolfpack.

But until his breakout performance on Monday in a 80-65 victory over Columbia University, Purvis had put together a string of underwhelming performances to begin the 2014-2015 season. Due to his unique skill set, Purvis is the most important player on the Huskies roster.

Purvis poured in 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, including a 4-for-5 output from three-point range, against Columbia. The 21 points ties the career high he set as a member of NC State against Boston College two seasons ago.

It was by far his best game of the season, as he has already dealt with an early-season suspension, a lingering ankle injury and poor shooting performances. In fact, in the guard’s previous four games, he scored a total of 16 points on 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) shooting in a total of 80 minutes on the court.

The team suffered losses in three of those four games.

The correlation between Purvis’ performance and team victories is not a mere coincidence. In the loss to West Virginia on November 23, he went 0-of-5 from the field in 21 minutes and put up a goose egg in the scoring column. Against Yale, his time on the court was limited to just eight minutes due to the reaggravation of his ankle injury, but in that span, he went 0-for-3 from the field and was once again held to no points.

In their most recent loss to No. 2 Duke, Purvis shot 4-for-11 and went 0-3 from three-point range for eight points. In those three losses, he had a total of eight points and five turnovers in 59 minutes.

"

Rodney Purvis "Kentan Facey told me I was due for a good game. " #UConn

— Dom Amore (@AmoreCourant) December 23, 2014"

It’s safe to say that the Huskies needed more from the player who came on campus with so much hype, as any former McDonald’s All-American would bring.

Against Columbia, Purvis gave the Huskies a much-needed spark, especially with his ability to convert shots from the perimeter. Connecticut has been terrible from beyond the arc this season, and Purvis is perhaps the only dangerous shooter from the perimeter on the entire roster.

Unfortunately for the Huskies, Niels Giffey and Shabazz Napier are no longer on the roster, and UConn has been hurting for players to step up from the outside. In fact, the team has shot 32.1 percent from three-point range this season. Purvis leads the team by shooting 40 percent from three.

Moving forward, it is essential that Purvis performs at a high level. Regarded as an NBA prospect, he will have every opportunity to showcase his skills.

Perhaps his most important attribute is his ability to create his own shot. Catalyst Ryan Boatright excels on that front, and freshman Daniel Hamilton has shown glimpses of his ability to create off the dribble, but Purvis also has that ability—and must use it in order to give UConn another dynamic on the offensive side of the court. When he is dished the ball on the perimeter, he must also convert on those chances, as he did against Columbia.

Now healthy, Purvis needs to be assertive and confident in his skills. The Huskies will face Temple, which is coming off a dominant victory over Kansas, and then Florida and Cincinnati in three of their next five games.

At 5-4 and heading into conference play, the Huskies must pick up some impressive victories for their resume moving forward, or they might be on the outside looking in at the end of the season.

If Purvis becomes a consistent threat on the offensive end, Connecticut will become a dangerous team moving through a weak American Athletic Conference.

But, if he maintains his inconsistency, it’s hard to imagine that this team will accomplish much in terms of their NCAA title defense.

Dan Karpuc is the editor of TradesportsInsider.com.