Pitchin with Pritch: Huskers’ leading scorer calls it quits

Nebraska men’s basketball team lost a player last week. Teddy Allen is gone. Allen stated that he will stay at Nebraska through the spring semester to work on graduation but no longer will be with the team. 

Allen played in 22 games this season and averaged 16.5 points per game and 4.7 rebounds.

He scored 20 points or more in eight games including a career-high 41-point output against Penn State on Feb. 23. That was the second highest individual scoring output in a single game in Husker basketball history.

Allen grew up in Arizona and according to some reports I saw, he had a very difficult childhood. He and his mother were abused by an alcoholic father. Allen ended up at Boys Town in 2015 where he received help he needed to deal with ADHD, bipolar disorder and depression. 

At Boys Town he averaged more than 31 points a game as a senior. 

During that year, he committed to play at West Virginia for Bob Huggins. But apparently, he didn’t mesh with Coach Huggins’ style of coaching and transferred to Wichita State in Kansas. 

He had to lay out a year at Wichita as the NCAA did not give him a waiver to play. During that year, Allen was arrested and charged with a pair of misdemeanors and was dismissed by Wichita State. 

Allen’s next stop was back in Nebraska as he enrolled at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff. At WNCC he averaged 31.4 points per game and shot 51% from the field. Allen then committed to Nebraska.

Allen was a scoring machine in some of the games. He had the ability to get a shot off at all angles and with either hand. 

At 6-6, he could play among the giants at times, getting off shots and scoring when you sometimes wondered what in the world he was trying to do but he would score. 

At the time of his departure, Allen led the Huskers in scoring and was second in rebounding. 

He sat out the Minnesota game on Feb. 8 which was listed as a coach’s decision. In the Minnesota game last week, Allen didn’t play very many minutes in the second half and didn’t score. 

Sometimes you wonder if there is more to the story than is being given out and I would bet there that is a possibility with Teddy Buckets, as he was often called. 

He is a skillful basketball player and yet there apparently is something that causes bumps in the road for him. He has one more year of eligibility. Maybe he will find a pro team here or overseas that will take a chance, but time could be running out. Hate to see talent get wasted. So how will it affect the Huskers?

Well, on March 1, it had some kind of affect because the Huskers played what I thought was the best game the past two years against their opponent Rutgers. 

They did a really good job on defense and caused a lot of turnovers which always helps the cause. Plus, the offense was as sharp as I have ever seen since Coach Hoiberg took over the program. 

The passing was great, there were excellent cuts to the basket and the Huskers at one time had a 30 -point lead before winning 72-51. 

On offense, the Huskers came out really hot as Junior Lat Mayen hit his first three shots, all 3-pointers and he had 14 of Nebraska’s first 16 points. He had 20 at the half and 25 for the game.

The Huskers only had six turnovers the first half and a 43-25 lead at halftime. The best part of the night was that the Huskers didn’t have one of their “Go for 8 minutes without scoring” drought and continued to build on their lead. 

Thorir Thorbjarnarson (I am glad I don’t have to spell his name much, or pronounce it) also had a pretty good game. He only had two points, but seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals help a bunch also. That was the last home game for the Huskers.

Blue Bloods playing better

Blue Bloods are starting to play better.  KU helped their cause a bunch last week by beating undefeated Baylor. They did it at Phog Allen Field House in KU country.

It is difficult to beat Bill Self’s teams when they are playing at home. Under Self’s coaching, KU is 202-11 at Allen Fieldhouse, once winning 69 games in a row.

 Some of the other blue bloods of college basketball are playing a little better now and maybe will get in the big show after all. 

Conference tournaments are going to be very important. Teams might not win their tournament but winning a couple games would help a bunch. 

It is getting down to the best part of the college basketball season.