Ex-Cat Allen embracing new start at WKU

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (KT) - When Dontaie Allen was pouring in 3-pointer after 3-pointer at tiny Pendleton County High School, one of the first colleges to notice his ability was Western Kentucky University.

The more he scored, the more colleges noticed him - including the University of Kentucky.

When coach John Calipari offered Allen a scholarship, he couldn't resist so he took his 3,255 career points to Lexington in what best can be described as an erratic and frustrating career as a Wildcat for the 6-foot-6 shooting guard.

Fast-forward to last spring and Allen needed a change of scenery and, once again, WKU was knocking on his door.

"Western was one of my first offers so it's definitely something when I entered the portal this summer Western was one of the first people to hit me up again," said Allen, a redshirt junior at WKU's Media Day Wednesday. "It was one of those things that I had to go down there for a visit and just see how it is and just see how the staff is."

Allen was quickly sold on the Hilltoppers with no promises of playing time, only a promise of opportunity in what soon became a deep WKU team.

"I felt like I made a really good decision and I'm standing on that to this day," he said.

At Kentucky, he sat out his freshman season with an injury and then saw action in 40 games the next two seasons with limited playing minutes as he mostly labored on the bench, becoming a hot topic on message boards and call-in shows.

There were some highlights for Allen as he displayed a long-range shooting touch when he nailed 31 3-pointers on 39.7% shooting from the arc in 2020-21 and he scored 46 points on 16 of 28 shooting with 13 3-pointers in the two games Kentucky played against Mississippi State.

At WKU, he's found happiness and a new home. He says he's comfortable where he is on and off the floor.

"It's a really good city as well as having the coaching staff that we have, and it's really good support, so I'm loving it so far," he said.

Once Allen announced his commitment to WKU, more transfers followed, setting the Hilltoppers up with a deeper and more versatile roster.

"Everybody's competing, everybody's having fun, that's most important," he said. "All the guys are gelling and that's a good sign to see early on and we're hoping it's going to be a good season."

At WKU's Topper Tipoff Tuesday night, Allen showed off his 3-point shooting skills by making 26 deep shots - in one minute.

The Hilltoppers return four starters off a 19-13 team that lost in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament, but with Allen and several other transfers and signees, depth shouldn't be a problem like it was last season when WKU used a six-player rotation much of the season.

Several additions followed Allen's decision.

"It was a good domino effect and I'm just glad to have these guys on the team from high-level programs and they all have got good character as well," he said. "That's something that doesn't get brought up, but they're high character guys, and to have that on the team, it's a really good effect."

What he brings from his time at Kentucky, he said, is game knowledge.

"The biggest thing is the experience and the ability to really understand the game, understand where the game is going," he said.

Allen said it's his nature to be quiet, whether he's on the court or off. He said coach Rick Stansbury made a point early that he needed to be more vocal.

"First thing for me was talking. On the first day of practice coach Stansbury was on me about talking," he said. "Even being at UK, I wasn't much of a talker, I would just do things."

WKU opens its regular season Nov. 10 at Eastern Kentucky University.