Even as he gave up minutes and opportunities during an epic slump, Noah Allen quietly held on to his belief.

“No one has higher expectations (of me) than myself,” the Hawaii senior wing said Monday.

Allen was named the Big West player of the week after an instrumental performance in the Rainbow Warriors’ 114-107 overtime win over Long Beach State on Saturday night. It was the first award of the season for a UH player. The Pacific Grove, Calif., native said he was “humbled” and called it “a blessing.”

He scored 20 of his career-high 25 points after halftime — shooting 8-for-11 after the break — including his hard drive to the rim for the tying layup at the regulation buzzer. UH (7-9, 1-2 BWC) dominated the extra period to earn its first conference win.

Two days later, teammate Jack Purchase expressed amazement the 6-foot-7 Allen could jet all the way from beyond halfcourt to the basket in 3.1 seconds. Leland Green freed up Allen with a down screen and Gibson Johnson fired a bullet pass on target from underneath the far basket. LBSU, perhaps afraid to foul, offered minimal resistance on the way; Allen had only to shake a defender on his hip. At high speed, he rolled the ball off his fingers, off the glass and in as the red backboard light activated. Teammates mobbed him as he lay on his back underneath the hoop.

“I didn’t know Noah was that quick, actually,” Purchase said. “He got down there pretty quick and laid it up. I thought he might’ve got fouled as well, so might not have even needed OT.”

It was a stunning turn of events from a player who started the season hot with three 20-point performances in the first five games, began to sputter, then looked lost and without confidence over the five games preceding Saturday, over which he averaged 2.6 points. That dropped his scoring average from a team-best 14.3 to 10.4.

After his outburst off the bench Saturday, he’s back up to a UH-best 11.3.

Allen — a three-year role player at UCLA before transferring to Manoa last summer as a graduate student — was recharged by a lengthy conversation with UH coach Eran Ganot on the tail end of the team’s Big West-opening two-game road trip. He played just 11 and eight minutes on the trip, compared to 39 on Saturday.

“Very productive … just in terms of what they expect from me,” Allen said of the conversation. “Expectations for me haven’t been very high for me the past three years, so it’s kind of been an adjustment for me. We got on the same page with everything. So I’m thankful for the opportunity he’s giving me.”

Purchase and Green also poured in career highs of 25 points as UH scored the program’s highest total against a Division I opponent at the Stan Sheriff Center.

But it was Allen above all who was hailed as the hero of the night.

“You knew it was going to only be a matter of time,” Ganot said of the breakthrough. “He’s consistently defended. He’s been effective on the glass.

“Noah’s going through some things very late in his (basketball) life, a guy who hasn’t played much and here he is as a senior. … He took a step. We’ll see how far we can take it.”

UH continues its five-game homestand Wednesday against Cal State Northridge (7-10, 3-1).