By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Credit Teddy “Buckets” Allen with the ability to see through the ruse.
When the New Mexico State guard heard of the flattering comments made about him earlier in the day by opposing coach Dan Hurley, he didn’t hesitate with a response:
“He just blowing that pregame smoke,” the redshirt junior said. “You know how that goes. I ain’t listening to that.”
And for good measure, Allen added a little of his own blarney.
“Dan Hurley is the best coach ever,” he said laughing.
Who could blame Hurley for a little gamesmanship.
Tipping off against Allen and the No. 12 seed Aggies (26-6) in the first round of the West Region, Hurley knows his No. 5 UConn Huskies (23-9) will need to make stopping Allen their priority.
“Teddy is a bucket,” Hurley said of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Player of the Year. “Teddy is a tough shot maker. Teddy plays with a lot of pop and a lot of personality and intensity.”
And like his nickname states, Allen scores in bunches. Playing in 32 games this year, he finished in double figures in all but one of those contests. He scored 30 or more in four different contests including a season-high 41 points in a 77-63 win over Abilene Christian.
“I don’t know if there’s anyone in the Big East that we’ve played against that has that type of release, and you just have to stay down and be disciplined against him because he has so much stuff off the dribble, and he is so good with head fakes and shoulder fakes and you just got to stay down and be the second guy to leave the floor and not be overly aggressive against him because he is an unbelievable counter puncher.”
New Mexico State (26-6) recovered from a pair of losses to end the regular season and took the WAC championship to earn its third NCAA bid in five years under head coach Chris Jans. Allen earned MVP honors. For the Aggies to get their first tournament win under Jans and first overall for the program since 1993, Allen will have to make adjustments.
“He is going to have to make really smart decision,” Jans said of Allen who started his college career at West Virginia before transferring to Nebraska and then on to New Mexico State. “Obviously, he has had a lot of different defenses this year. He was leading scorer at Nebraska in that league prior to coming here, so it’s not as if he hasn’t faced defenses that give him a lot of attention, and he certainly has a ton in our league this past year. When he puts the ball on the floor, they swarm to it, and they try to demand that he makes him give it out to make other people beat him.
“In our championship game, Abilene Christian trapped him every time he got the ball, and he did an excellent job of moving the ball and understanding what they were trying to do and trusting his teammates. Certainly we’re not exactly sure how the game will unfold or what their plan will be, but I’m sure there will be some of that. Like always, he has to make good decisions. He has to understand that it’s going to be hard to get up against a team like that. He is going to have to give it up and get to the midrange, which I know is outdated, but he is still pretty good at it. Like always, he is going to have to make really good decisions with the basketball because he is going to get a lots of attention.”
Allen is going to have to accomplish this against a UConn defense that is 31st in the nation holding opponents to 40 percent from the floor. Per KenPom, the Huskies block percentage of 16.7 is fifth in the country. And the Huskies rebound margin of 7.0 is eighth in the country.
“We’re not going to win a jumping contest,” Jans said of UConn. “They’re going to beat us in most of those across the board. We’re going to have to do our work on the ground before the ball is shot and try to get bodies on people and fight and scratch and claw and do the best job that we can to try to even them out a little bit on the backboards.”
Graduate student RJ Cole averages 15. 7 points per game while handing out better than four assists to lead UConn. Sophomore Adama Sanogo scores 14.9 per game while grabbing 8.9 rebounds. Senior guard Tyrese Martin adds 13.7 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Huskies.
“UConn is well taught and well schooled on both ends of the floor,” Jans said. “Unfortunately, when you break them down on tape, you don’t find many weaknesses. For those industry insiders when you look at their KenPom, it’s a whole lot of green, and it’s pretty dark in the columns of the greenness of how well they do in a bunch of different categories across the KenPom sheet.
“The thing that jumps out the most is just their starting five is just — they’re so cohesive, and they’re not missing anything. They’ve got a point guard that can score. They can organize it. They got wings that can score it, shoot it, drive it, rebound it, and then certainly they’ve got guys around the basket that can score it back to the basket.”
On the lighter side, Jans noted that his star is not limited to just one nickname.
“He has several monikers, which he has reminded me of. Last night was a new one. He showed me a picture of he and I, and he goes the sauce with the coach. I’m, like, the sauce? That’s what they call me. Oh, I thought it was bucket. My bad. He is definitely a bucket. I’ve known him since high school. I was on the circuit. This is my third time recruiting him. Took me a while, but we finally got it done. He is a game planner. He has played for a lot of coaches. He has played in the NCAA tournament. He has won games in the NCAA tournament. He has certainly helped us a ton this year to win championships to put ourselves in this position.
“What I love most about him is he has done an excellent job of immersing himself at New Mexico State and the community within the organization.”
A 6:50 p.m. tip off is scheduled. TNT will televise the game . The winner will face (4) Arkansas vs. (13) Vermont winner on Saturday.
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