With Georgetown up five and under a minute to play, the Hoyas had a chance to close out previously-undefeated Oklahoma State with a bucket. On the game’s biggest possession, it was neither Mac McClung nor Omer Yurtseven with the ball in their hands. No, it was Terrell Allen. And he did this:
In just one game, Allen had changed the opinions of many Hoya fans. Asked to step up in place of the departed James Akinjo, a 15 point, five assist performance surely marked Allen’s best outing to date. “Now that he’s getting extended minutes, I think he’s showing his worth,” Coach Patrick Ewing said to the media Wednesday morning.
Part of Allen’s value comes in the way he meshes with the rest of the Georgetown backcourt, especially Mac McClung. Terrell is explosive off the dribble, and thus is often able to beat his defender and get in the lane. When he draws help from the defense, Allen is always looking to find his open teammates.
In the clip above, Allen gets inside the heart of the defense, drawing defenders away from the perimeter and opening up McClung for a wide open three.
Allen’s performance against Oklahoma State was not just a flash in the pan. He followed up last Wednesday’s victory with another rock solid performance against SMU, albeit in a very different fashion. Despite scoring just two points against the Mustangs, Allen tallied a career-high 10 assists, and did not turn the ball over once, leading the Hoyas to a double-digit win.
These 10 assists came thanks to Allen’s immaculate court vision. In the clip above, Terrell receives the outlet from Yurtseven and immediately looks up court. Seeing Pickett open ahead, Allen fires a hard chest pass between the two defenders, hitting Pickett in stride for the easy finish.
Something that goes largely unnoticed is Allen’s elite stamina. After playing no more than 17 minutes in each of Georgetown’s first seven games, Terrell was on the court for 29 minutes against SMU after playing a whopping 33 minutes against Oklahoma State just three nights prior. Given Georgetown’s lack of depth at the guard position, this durability will be crucial in closing out the non-conference schedule and moving forward into Big East play.
With Allen taking over as the Hoyas’ starting point guard, it was expected that he would step into a leadership role. As a grad transfer, Terrell has a wealth of experience that he can draw on in that respect. “He’s a point guard; he knows how to lead,” Ewing said. That leadership on the court may not be in the form many expect, however.
“Last time I heard Terrell really speak up was at halftime of the Mount Saint Mary’s game,” fellow guard Jagan Mosely commented. That was the team’s season opener on Nov. 6 for those keeping track. “He doesn’t really need to be vocal,” Mosely continued. “He’s more of a leader by example.”
That certainly appears to be the case, as Allen’s pass-first mentality seems to have worn off on the rest of the team. “The ball movement was just a lot better than it had been in the past,” said Coach Ewing in reference to the team’s last two wins. This showed up in the stat line, as Georgetown tallied 26 assists on 34 made field goals against SMU.
In the play above, Allen and McClung run some dribble hand-off action. A Yurtseven screen then frees up Mac at the top of the key, where he passes up a fairly-open look. Instead, he swings the ball back to Allen, who makes a nice entry pass to the rolling Yurtseven. Catching deep in the low-post, Omer is easily able to turn over his right shoulder and finish at the rim. This is a prime example of the Hoyas passing up a decent look to find an even better one.
“I just want to be able to make everybody on the court happy at the same time,” commented Allen. He appears to be succeeding in that goal. On top of that, Terrell Allen seems to be making the Georgetown fanbase pretty happy as well.
