Dontaie Allen knows UK did not have an impressive record but wants fans to stay with the Cats going forward. (SEC Photo)
Kentucky’s historically bad 9-16 season has already prompted a lot of questions about what lies ahead for the Cats and coach John Calipari. One frequent question has been will freshman Dontaie Allen transfer? The former Kentucky Mr. Basketball barely played in December, got his chance in January when he scored 23 points at Mississippi State, and then had his playing time gradually decrease late in the season. He re-emerged Thursday with a brilliant 20-point performance in the second half of UK’s 74-73 loss to Mississippi State.
He finished the season averaging 5.4 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 14 minutes per game. He made 31 3-pointers and shot 39.7 percent from 3-point range.
Allen was a UK fan favorite and Calipari spent an extraordinary amount of time discussing his weaknesses, strengths, and progress — sometimes when he was asked and other times when he just volunteered the information.
Even teammates acknowledged late in the season that Allen had to be feeling immense pressure.
So what would Allen’s message be to fans after UK’s disastrous season?
“Obviously I’d say to stay with us for the following seasons. That’s one thing, if you really look at the team, you can say they didn’t have the best of records, you could say they wasn’t good. You can have any excuse you want,” Allen said.
“Like, this team fought every single game. That’s something you can’t say we didn’t do. You can look literally, there was fight every time. I would just say to stay with us.”
Stay with us. Doesn’t sound like a player planning a transfer any time soon to me. If you are not convinced, consider what Allen said he’ll be doing this offseason.
“I’m going to stay in the gym. Like I told you, the last month I’ve been in the gym. I’m feeling really good, really confident. I’m just going to stay in the gym literally all summer. I’m going to work to exhaustion,” Allen said.
Again, no mention of transferring. Just working hard like he always has.
Allen said his 23-point performance Thursday was the result of the extra work he put in the last month when he was not playing a lot of meaningful minutes.
“I’ve just really been getting in the gym, working on all aspects of my game. I think that’s why you see more confidence in me on the floor,” he said.
Not every player would have kept striving to improve the way Allen did. He’s proud of how he handled his situation.
“I think a big thing for me was it showed how resilient I was. I’ve always known I was resilient, but after going through things I went through this year, it just shows I’m resilient, I’m a strong person,” Allen said. “I just hate that me and the team had to go out like this. I’m still kind of stuck on that.”
