Photo by UK Athletics
On the list of frustrating things about Kentucky’s 66-59 loss to Auburn, Dontaie Allen’s lack of playing time in the second half must be at the top. Allen played 15 minutes in the first half, scored eight points on 3-5 shooting, but played only eight minutes in the second, missing two threes and a free throw. After the game, John Calipari said the reason Allen stopped playing in the second half was because he didn’t take advantage of the open looks he had.
“At the end of the day, we ran things for Dontaie and he didn’t want to shoot the ball. That’s why I took it out one time. We did two things for him and he had shots and he didn’t want to take them. I’m like, ‘Look. You are there to take pictures. That’s one thing. But look, Dontaie wasn’t the problem. “
Allen and Jacob Toppin were essentially Kentucky’s only foul in the first half, combining 16 of the Cats’ 25 points, but neither started the second half and only saw the floor after five minutes, more than six in Allen’s case. Why?
“Well, you know one of the things we talked about, don’t you – Lance [Ware] also, what about throwing Lance there? What you’re trying to do is I’m not trying – I want to win every game I coach, but the other side is I’m not trying to take someone’s heart away. So you can withdraw them after three, four minutes.
“We didn’t start too bad at the halfway point, so that was not the case. It’s not like replacing quarterbacks. He played a bad quarter, so I’m gonna play this other quarterback. That’s not how you coach. What you do is put them in there. You go the other way and again, Dontaie looked great in the second half. I have a great appearance. Contaminated. But they went to him defensively. In other words, whoever he was guarding, they went. Did the same with BJ so I took those guys and went with Jacob and the other guys. “
A quick check of the box’s second half score shows that Allen was the only Wildcat to finish positive in plus / minus efficiency:
At 4-8, isn’t it more than time to stop worrying about feelings and just play the guys who really help you win?