Dontaie Allen (Vicky Graff Photo)
On his weekly radio show Monday night, Kentucky coach John Calipari raved about the way redshirt freshman Dontaie Allen shot the ball in practice — something he has not done well in recent games.
“He shot it really well. We scrimmaged a little bit and he was shooting really well,” UK center Olivier Sarr said Tuesday.
“Dontaie shot the ball extremely well. That’s what we need Dontaie to do. We’ve all had his back all year,” sophomore Keion Brooks said Tuesday. “We get mad at Dontaie when he doesn’t shoot the ball because we know how good of a shooter he is. He brings a different element to our team. Yesterday Dontaie shot the lights out.”
Brooks said he doesn’t know why Allen might be hesitant at times to shoot.
“That is a question you would have to ask Dontaie. All I can say is, like I said before, anytime he has an inch of daylight to get it off, we want him to put it up,” Brooks said.
Calipari talked about the pressure on Allen, a former Kentucky Mr. Basketball from Pendleton County, after Saturday’s win over South Carolina where he went 0-for-4 from the field.
“I mean, poor Dontaie and I love the kid. He and I have talked individually but it was so much on him that — let him go shoot every ball. And these kids, they are — they know who they are, what they are, what they can do, and any time you’re trying to have a kid do more than he is, it’s just — it’s not fair to the kids,” Calipari said.
The UK coach was hesitant to play Allen before SEC play until Allen knocked down seven 3-pointers in an overtime win at Mississippi State — a game where Calipari got ejected. The coach insisted then he wasn’t ready for the prime-time role many fans wanted him to have despite UK’s losing record.
Calipari said he told the team before the game Saturday he was playing Allen and didn’t care if he missed shots. He just wanted him to shoot.
“We’re in practice, encouraging them to shoot because there may be a game coming up where he needs to go in and bang a couple 3’s because we’re dying right now, and we needed him,” Calipari said after the South Carolina win.
Sarr said he believes there is some pressure on Allen like there is every UK player.
“But I can only imagine being from Kentucky and having all of these expectations. I think he has his times sometimes, but we all do,” Sarr said.
Brooks said only Allen could explain what pressure he did or did not feel.
“I don’t have the ability to jump inside his mind, but our whole team is backing him and all we want is to see him do well. If he is feeling pressure, I hope that he knows that we’re with him no matter what,” Brooks said.
Kentucky plays Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament Thursday and Sarr knows what Allen’s shooting did in the first game against the Bulldogs.
“That helps us rely on somebody offensively and also spaces the court for everybody else. So, that’s great for us and that’s always been great for us,” Sarr said.
