Mr. Basketball Dontaie Allen (Larry Vaught Photo)
Kentucky fans want to see redshirt freshman Dontaie Allen of Pendleton County get a chance to play and succeed. Kentucky coach John Calipari — the man who determines when Allen will play — says he wants the same.
“Let me just tell everyone out there, I’m rooting for Dontaie. When he gets his chance. I want him to do so well,” Calipari said during his weekly radio show Monday night.
“The Kentucky kids that we’ve recruited here have done so well. It’s been a longer run for them: Dominique (Hawkins), Derek (Willis). Think about it, they’re playing professionally. It took them longer, but so what?”
But Hawkins and Willis were not on a Kentucky team that started 1-5 and seems to be in turmoil from the outside looking in. Kentucky has struggled to make shots and Allen averaged 42.9 points per game his senior season before getting injured after playing just 13 games. He tore his ACL in December of 2018 and then broke his collarbone in a car crash leading him to being redshirted last year.
So what is Calipari’s message to Allen who has played sparingly so far this season despite UK’s lack of consistent outside shooting?
“What I’m saying to Dontaie, ‘Be ready for your opportunity because it will come.’ He’s had an unbelievable attitude. I want to see him go in the game, know the game plan defensively, know what he’s doing, and then let some balls fly,” Calipari said. “I don’t know when it is, it may be this game, it may not. He will get an opportunity.”
Seems Calipari should know when that opportunity will come since he’s the one deciding who plays. Only Allen and Devin Askew are shooting above 30 percent from 3-point range this season.
But it apparently is Allen’s defense that is keeping him off the court even though it seems plenty of guys playing in front of him have struggled defensively as well and are not making shots, either.
“He just can’t break down in two or three other areas,” Calipari said. “You all (fans) just want him to shoot. To stay on the floor, defensive game plan, lock in. Make really easy plays, and when you get a shot, you launch that thing. If you don’t shoot an open shot, I will take you out.
“It’s hard because it’s now on you because you’ve got to take responsibility for those shots.”
Right now, though, Allen can’t launch shots from the bench.
