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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 has to be at the top. Allen played 15 minutes in the first half, scoring eight points on 3-5 shots, but only played eight minutes in the second, missing two threes and one free throw. After the game, John Calipari said the reason Allen didn’t play more in the second half was because he didn’t take advantage of the open looks he was getting.
“At the end of the day we were running stuff for Dontaie and he wasn’t shooting the ball. That’s why I took it out once. We ran two things for him and he got hits and he didn’t take them. I’m like, ‘Look. You are there to take pictures. It’s a thing. But look, Dontaie wasn’t the problem.
Allen and Jacob Toppin were essentially Kentucky’s only offense in the first half, combining for 16 of the Cats’ 25 points, but neither started the second half and saw the ground for more than five minutes, more than six in Allen’s case. Why?
“Well, you know one of the things we talked about, do we – Lance [Ware] also, how about throwing Lance in there? What you’re trying to do is I don’t try to – I want to win every game that I coach, but on the other side, I’m not trying to take anyone’s heart. So you can submit them after three, four minutes and go.
“We didn’t start off so badly at half-time, so we didn’t. It’s not like you’re replacing quarters. He played a bad quarterback so I’m going to play that other quarterback. You don’t train that way. What you do is submit them. You come out the other way and once again Dontaie looked good in the second half. I have great looks. I was fouled. But they attacked him defensively. In other words, the one he was guarding, they were going. I did the same to BJ, that’s why I took these guys and went with Jacob and the other guys.
A quick check of the second half of the box score shows that Allen was the only Wildcat to finish in the positive in over / under efficiency:
At 4-8, isn’t it past the time to stop worrying about feelings and playing the guys who actually help you win?
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