It is uncommon in Division I basketball for a coach to exhort a player to take more shots at the expense of others. Rarer still is a role player asked to become a go-to guy in the span of a few months.
Noah Allen knows how it feels.
“It’s definitely something I’m not used to,” the graduate transfer from UCLA said after a recent Hawaii scrimmage. “I haven’t done that (been a primary option) since high school. Like anything, it’s just going to take time for me to get comfortable with it. But the coaching staff and my teammates are trusting me to do that, so it’s something I have to be better at.”
Though a rotation hasn’t yet been hammered out, Allen, a 6-foot-7 senior small forward, is widely expected to be a featured player this season as UH trots out an entirely new starting lineup.
Allen comes across as soft-spoken, but he definitely looks the part. He’s long and mobile.
The slasher put up respectable numbers as a Palma High School senior (18 points and 14 rebounds per game) and was a sought-after recruit in Salinas, Calif., south of the Bay Area. His one-time recruiters included Eran Ganot at Saint Mary’s and UH assistant Adam Jacobsen when he was with Pacific.
Allen chose a traditional power in UCLA, but his three-year career playing at Pauley Pavilion didn’t go quite as he’d hoped. In 71 career games for the Pac-12 school, Allen averaged 1.2 points and 1.2 rebounds.
“I was more of a ball reversal guy. And just play defense,” Allen said. “It wasn’t really my role to score. It is what it is.”
Still, Allen was on two NCAA Sweet 16 teams, most notably his sophomore season, when he played in all 36 games. He recorded his career high of six points in the Pac-12 tournament against USC that year.
And he took care of his classwork, getting his undergraduate degree in political science ahead of schedule. It allowed him to play right away elsewhere as a graduate student.
Manoa made sense as a destination to end his career. UH was in need of capable players, even on a short-term basis, while it dealt with an NCAA postseason ban and a complete roster overhaul. Allen’s familiarity with Ganot and Jacobsen helped, too.
Over the past two weeks, Ganot has made it a point in practices to get on Allen when he goes with the flow and doesn’t take initiative. Allen has nodded on those occasions, silently accepting the criticism.
“I’m really proud. He’s made a lot of strides,” Ganot said. “He knows we’re going to stay on him. … I told him that in front of the guys, and for all the guys. We’re going to be relentless on every detail on them. We’re not going to let them off the hook. You can’t let your guard down. You gotta make a jump in your mind-set from a blender to a key guy.”
Last year’s Rainbow Warriors were a competitive lot, paced by point guard Roderick Bobbitt. This year’s group is still looking for a leader in that regard as they prepare for the Nov. 11 opener, and the team’s only active senior is a natural candidate.
In an officiated scrimmage in the Stan Sheriff Center last Friday, play got more heated than usual. Allen had his best practice yet and made the most of his opportunities, hitting shots both inside and out.
“We’re all nice guys off the court. We need to understand when we step in those lines it’s time to be nasty and get down to looking to be gritty,” Allen said. “It’s just making a habit of (it).”
One area Allen has looked better than advertised is in his perimeter jumper. Allen shot 30.1 percent from the field at UCLA, including 18.8 percent from 3-point range. But this staff places emphasis on all players hoisting 3s every day, and he’s regularly been hitting from the outside in live action.
“My teammates and coaching staff are giving me confidence to shoot it when I’m open,” Allen said. “So that kind of just takes all the jitters or uncertainty out of it. Most of it is just mental nerves.”
Progress, yes. Ganot’s noted that Allen’s had “a couple days” when he’s reverted to his tendency to defer.
“You might fail sometimes, but we’re good with that,” Ganot said. “We’re not good with settling, we’re not good with not going for it. We’re not with holding back. And I think that’s part of our job. Individually these guys gotta bring it and we gotta bring it out of them.”
