Kentucky Basketball deja vu again as slow start followed by feasting on Osprey

We haven’t seen a lot from Dontaie Allen off the bench until now

Dontaie Allen sometimes makes the most of his minutes and sometimes he doesn’t. It’s not for a lack of support from the fans for the hometown kid who all love to cheer for him.

Kentucky needs him to step in when called upon and deliver quality minutes when he is in the game. A blank stat line won’t cut it especially with Calipari looking to trim the rosters minutes into about an eight-man rotation.

He struggled early when Calipari called him off the bench and sat back down. But when he got his second chance he made the most of it and Cal noted that.

"“Again, Dontaie [Allen], I told him, ‘You can miss shots. If you fight, I’ll leave you in.’ He didn’t fight early in the game. He didn’t come up with the ball, he ran the wrong way, he pushed. You’re not missing shots and playing. Then all of a sudden, he missed shots, but he fought. When we came in at halftime, the guys said, ‘That’s the way to fight, Dontaie.”"

What we delivered against North Florida was a season-high performance across the board in points (14), minutes (19), Field goals made (5) and attempted (12), three-pointers made (2) and attempted (8), rebounds (7), assists (2), blocks (2) and his first steal of the year.

When Allen is excited, happy, and doing things that don’t get him yanked to the bench he can be a difference-maker for the Wildcats. Just contributing valuable minutes when called upon can help carry this team deep into the postseason.

Next up Kentucky plays host to Central Michigan, which is coached by ex-Wildcats assistant coach Tony Barbee, on Monday night before taking a well-deserved eight-day break before hosting Southern on December 7.