Dontaie Allen's decision to transfer came with little surprise

The first change to UK’s roster came on Thursday morning when Dontaie Allen announced his decision to place his name in the transfer portal. Over three seasons in Lexington, the redshirt sophomore averaged 3.9 points in 10.5 minutes per game. He experienced some highs while at Kentucky, specifically in a pair of games against Mississippi State last season. As this year progressed, though, this outcome appeared more and more likely.

All Love Big Blue Nation, forever my home 💙 pic.twitter.com/Aak9DgMzNy

— Dontaie A11en (@dontaieallen11) March 24, 2022

When you dive into this decision, there’s plenty to discuss on both sides. On Kentucky’s side, Allen should have seen the floor a lot more during the 2020-2021 campaign. The fanbase clamored for Allen to get minutes on a team that finished near the bottom in the country in both three-point makes and attempts. Allen’s memorable performance down in Starkville earned him about a month of opportunity. From there, he averaged just 9.5 minutes in the final 10 games of the season. During that frustrating 9-16 season, Allen justified earning more playing time more than once but never consistently got it.

In his second season is where the issues shifts more towards Allen. UK’s backcourt was packed to start the season, but a season-ending hamstring injury to CJ Frederick reinforced the roster’s need for a shooter. At that point, it seemed as if Allen would be a natural fit to fill that role. Instead, he played himself right out of the rotation Calipari ironed out. Allen shot 29.5% from the field and 18.8% from three over his first nine games. Pair that dreadful shooting stretch with being one of the least impactful defenders on the roster and Allen logged just 30 minutes the rest of the season.

A perfect example of how Allen lost opportunities was against Alabama this season. Both Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington missed that game with injuries, which created a need in the backcourt. Combine that with a shootout type of game and Allen should have had plenty of opportunity in this one. He didn’t, though, as a played just two minutes. Why?

When Allen checked in, Alabama’s Keon Ellis was lighting UK up with 14 points on perfect shooting. Allen defended Ellis on one of his only plays of the game and immediately lost him. That led to Ellis hitting his fifth three of the game to push the Tide’s lead back to double-digits. Calipari’s frustration boiled over as he threw Davion Mintz back in the game after what would be some of Allen’s final minutes as a Wildcat.

Allen now joins the short list of transfers from Kentucky under Calipari. If those players are any indicator of what Allen’s future could be, he’ll be just fine. A lot of them dealt with similar issues that Allen had in Lexington. Kyle Wiltjer, Charles Matthews, and Quade Green left for more opportunity rather than fitting in on crowded UK rosters. In the end, Wiltjer became a 20-point per game scorer, Wooden Award candidate and All-American at Gonzaga. Meanwhile, Matthews helped lead Michigan to a National Championship appearance and Green nearly doubled his points per game at Washington.

If that’s not enough, the Wildcats have also lost a pair of great shooters who went on to have great careers out west. In 2019, Jemarl Baker transferred to Arizona and averaged a career-high 12 points a game as a junior. More notably and recently was Johnny Juzang, who transferred to UCLA after a season at UK. Juzang has since averaged 15.8 points a game, was a Wooden Award candidate this season, and has the Bruins in the Sweet 16 this year after taking them to the Final Four last year over his two seasons in LA.

Situations like Allen’s will only become more common with the NCAA’s transfer portal. It’s even harder to see happen when it’s one of Kentucky’s own as Allen was the first in-state signee for UK since Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis. Still, there was nothing to suggest Allen would have gotten more opportunity next season. If the trend of success for UK transfers continues, a bigger role for Allen on a different team should be beneficial for the former four-star prospect.