Dontaie Allen makes long-awaited college debut

After sitting out his entire true freshman season rehabbing from a torn ACL, Commonwealth native Dontaie Allen finally made his Kentucky Wildcats debut Wednesday.

The Falmouth product logged four minutes of action vs. Morehead State in the Wildcats’ 2020-21 season opener. He scored four points after nailing a three-pointer and going 1/2 at the free-throw line while adding a rebound and committing a turnover.

John Calipari made sure to get all of his available scholarship players a chance to play in the first half of the season opener, as each scholarship player logged at least four minutes of action.

Allen is a former Kentucky Mr. Basketball honoree and was a four-star recruit out of Pendleton County High School. He picked his home-state Wildcats over a list of offers that included Auburn, Florida, Louisville, Oklahoma, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh.

Allen’s first shot looked as pure as it can look when shooting from collegiate three-point range. And his other two attempts from deep rimmed in and out.

“I thought Dontaie did fine. He’s just behind some other players. So, but he’s going to get his chances,” Calipari said after the game. “And I told these guys, ‘Every one of you, just like every year I’ve been here, will have a chance. Will you be ready for your chance, or do you instead of fight, it’s flight? Or is it delusion and I’m going to blame and’—you’re going to get a chance.”

For a guy playing his first real basketball game in two years, Allen showed some nice promise, and he’ll now look to find consistent minutes off the bench for the Wildcats this season.

Because it’s been so long since Allen played in competitive games, don’t expect him to have a significant role for the first few months, but he may very well develop into the kind of reliable three-point shooter this Kentucky team could use after hitting just six threes vs. the Eagles.

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