Photo by British Athletics
On the list of frustrating things about Kentucky’s 66-59 loss to Auburn, Dontaie Allen’s lack of playing time should be at the top in the second half. Allen played 15 minutes in the first half and scored eight points on 3-5 shooting, but only played eight minutes in the second half and missed two tries and missed a free throw. After the game, John Calipari said the reason Allen did not play in the second half anymore was that he did not take advantage of the open look he had.
‘At the end of the day, we drove things for Dontaie and he did not shoot the ball. That’s why I took him out once. We drove two things for him and he had shots and he would not take it. I’m like, ‘Look. You’re there to make shots. “This is one thing. But look, Dontaie was not the problem. ”
Allen and Jacob Toppin were essentially the only offense from Kentucky in the first half, which combined with 16 of the Cats’ 25 points, but neither of them started the second half and had no more than five minutes left on the floor. seen, more than six in Allen’s case. Why?
‘Well, you know one of the things we talked about we do – Lance [Ware] also, how’s Lance going there? What you are trying to do is not try: I want to win every game I coach, but the other side is: I’m not trying to take anyone’s heart away. So you can subject it to three, four minutes.
“We did not start half so badly, so that was not the case. It’s not like you’ve quarterbacks. He played a bad quarter, so I’m going to play this other quarter. You do not practice like that. What you do is put it in. You go out again and again, Dontaie had a great look in the second half. Has a good appearance. Contaminated. But they go to him defensively. In other words, whoever he watches goes. Did the same to BJ, so I took those guys and went with Jacob and the other guys. ‘
A quick look at the second half of the score shows that Allen was the only Wildcat that was positive in the plus / minus efficiency:
Isn’t it longer than stopping at 4-8 to worry about feelings and just playing the guys who actually help you win?