How much noise will KeVaughn Allen make during his senior season?
Gators Hoping for Better, Louder Version of 'Same KeVaughn'
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Go ahead, try to have a conversation with KeVaughn Allen. A two-way conversation, that is. In a recent instance, the so-called dialogue included a few one-word answers, some nods and shakes of the head, to the point where the question was asked if his tongue-tied ways were a front put on for those he does not know.
You're a different KeVaughn with your teammates, right?
"No," Allen said. "Same KeVaughn."
OK, fine.
But ask folks in the Florida basketball facility about Allen — players, coaches, managers, support staff — and some will swear the Gators' mostly muted shooting guard has become a tad more outgoing these days; even a spot more (dare they say?) verbose when it comes to communicating on the floor.
"He's getting out of his comfort zone some," UF coach Mike White said.
"A little bit," allowed senior swingman Jalen Hudson, if only momentarily. "But, actually, not really."
Translation: Same KeVaughn.
Shooting guard KeVaughn Allen is on pace to become one of the top 10 scorers in UF basketball history, but also is coming off a season when he posted career lows in points, field and free throw attempts, and shooting percentage.
This is OK, also.
In three seasons, Allen has scored 1,297 career points and heading into his senior year — one that starts unofficially Tuesday night with an exhibition against Division II Florida Southern, and officially Nov. 6 at rival Florida State — is on pace to become one of the top 10 scorers in UF basketball history. That would be quite an accomplishment and very much like the "Same KeVaughn" everyone has seen since he arrived in the summer of 2015 as a top-40 hotshot prospect from Little Rock, Ark. The Gators could live with that "Same KeVaughn" and probably be just fine.
As long as it's not the same one as last year.
Those closest to Allen are confident his final UF season won't be like the previous one because there's no way his senior year and its circumstances will approach what Allen dealt with during a junior year when his mother fell seriously ill, the family car was totaled, his younger sister's hair mysteriously began to fall out, and his lifelong coaching mentor was killed in a car crash two days before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
After garnering Southeastern Conference All-Freshman honors in 2016 and first-team All-SEC accolades in 2017 (even before dropping a career-high 35 on Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden), Allen entered his '17-18 junior season as a preseason first-team all-leaguer with his name on the John Wooden Award watch list for national player of the year. With all the hype, Allen went on to post career-low numbers in points, shooting percentage, rebounds and steals, but also in field-goal and free-throw attempts. On a Gators team that had a couple offensive-minded players in Hudson and grad transfer Egor Koulechov, Allen seemed all too willing to acquiesce his earned status as a go-to scoring option.
Allen led the team in scoring as a sophomore at 14.0 points per game. He finished fourth in that category as a junior at 11.0.
"I don't think he had a bad year, but it wasn't what you'd say a great year, either," said Ahna Curry, Allen's mother. "But I know he was totally disappointed in himself."
Curry's take on this matter is significant because anyone who knows Allen is acutely aware of their relationship. Calling Allen a "mama's boy" doesn't do their connection justice.
She is her son's world. KeVaughn Allen with "Miss Ahna" after a game last season.
So imagine the place Allen found himself last November, in the days leading up to the regular season, when he learned his mother had an internal bleeding issue that had her doctors somewhat befuddled, even after a biopsy determined the puzzling polyps in her colon were benign. Moreover, imagine Allen's place when he found out she'd been dealing with the issue for some time, but the family chose not to tell him.
"It had an effect on him, especially when we finally did let him know and he realized how long the process had been going on. He was upset that we tried to hide it from him," said Curry, who eventually was diagnosed with diverticulitis and underwent a complicated surgery that required procedures on both sides of her body. "It was more severe than we expected. I ended up missing work for almost two months."
Tradition had always put Allen's mom front and center for his first game, no matter the venue. Curry, though, wasn't at Exactech Arena when the Gators tipped off the '17-18 season. It's an accepted fact within the program that Allen plays better when "Miss Ahna" is in the house, but she couldn't get to any games until well into January.
"She tried to make it like everything was OK, but that was just so I'd feel like I could go out [on the court] and be myself and not worry about the things that were going on," Allen said. "It was hard. I feel like my family helped me get through it, and once my teammates knew about it they helped me get through it, as well."
Context: As a sophomore, Allen shot better than 48 percent from the floor and 42 percent from the 3-point line in SEC play; as a junior, those numbers dipped to 38.8 and 36.7, respectively.
"There was just a lot going on in his head," assistant coach Darris Nichols said.
Now, throw in what was going on on the court.
In their debut seasons as Gators, Hudson (a transfer from Virginia Tech) and Koulechov (by way of Rice) became instant shooting stars, alongside fan favorite point guard Chris Chiozza. Koulechov bombed in 34 points in the opener. Hudson had 35 in UF's epic double-overtime upset win over Gonzaga in the prestigious PK80 at Portland the day after Thanksgiving. The coaching staff, in an effort to find a backup for Chiozza, experimented with Allen at the point, but the role did not fit a player whose strength was scoring and whose weakness was communication.
So Allen, his mind on his mom, got off to a slow start to both the regular season and SEC season. He failed to reach double-digits in four of the first five league games and went four straight without taking a single free throw, despite shooting nearly 90 percent from the line for his career.
Eventually, "Miss Ahna" got better and was ready to come to games again. Her son discouraged her to do so.
"He was like, 'Don't drive all this way to see me. It's a waste of time. I'm playing bad,' " Curry said. "But we said, 'KeVaughn, we're coming and we're coming to support you.' He was really, really hard on himself."
And they came. Curry and her husband made the five-plus-hour trip from Little Rock to Nashville, Tenn., for the Florida-Vanderbilt game. Along the way, they didn't account for — get this — the washing machine that fell off a delivery truck and was sitting in the middle of Interstate 40. Their 2017 Dodge Charger lost that one-on-one matchup (wasn't close, either). The Gators lost the game, too.
Four nights later, UF was back in the state of Tennessee, this time to face the No. 18 and eventual co-SEC champion Volunteers. Allen played 29 minutes, attempted just three shots, missed both his free-throw attempts and went scoreless for the first time since his freshman season (a run of 84 games). The loss was Florida's third straight.
What in the world was going on?
"I have no idea," Allen said, looking back. KeVaughn Allen and younger sister La'Shira.
That was February, the same month Allen's 19-year-old sister, La'Shira, inexplicably began losing her hair and, in time, was found to be suffering from alopecia. The diagnosis sent La'Shira into a state of depression that only in the last few months, with the help of treatments for the baldness condition (and some fabulous wigs), has taken an upturn.
Amid all these distractions and adversity, Allen was forced to try and compartmentalize it all, with his anxiety spilling over to his performance on the basketball court.
"I can always tell when he's thinking too much, instead of just playing the game. Even when watching on the TV," Curry said. "I tell him to stop thinking and just let the game come."
The team never lost hope that Allen would get his groove back. White put it best after that Tennessee game.
"We've been here with KeVaughn a few times before and when you least expect it — Boom! — he just goes and gets the Gators 25," White said. "I'm hoping that's coming soon."
The very next game, Allen got 24 and made six of 10 shots from the 3-point line in a huge home win against 12th-ranked and eventual co-SEC champion Auburn. He had 11 points and season-bests of seven rebounds and seven assists in an emotional defeat of No. 23 Kentucky in the home finale. Things perhaps were trending upward again.
Eight days later, Allen's club coach since the age of 10, Kahn Cotton, died in a North Little Rock car accident, the same day the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced. Four days after that, Allen had seven points and went just 2-for-8 from the floor, as the Gators defeated St. Bonaventure to open NCAA play in Dallas. The next day, after practice, Allen flew home and was there for Cotton's wake, but returned to Dallas afterward in time to go 2-for-11 in a 69-66 season-ending loss to Texas Tech that night in the round of 32.
Enter the offseason and exit meetings in the coaches' offices. Allen, looking toward his senior season, was told to rediscover his offensive aggressiveness and — somehow, some way — bring himself to talk more on the floor.
Now, he's a senior and is five months from closing the book on his UF career. He's also on schedule to graduate.
"He's grown up a lot the last few years. He seems much more mature," Curry said. "Now, he takes the initiative to talk and ask questions. He's not calling me in Arkansas and asking what he should do about this or that. He's using his resources there and making decisions. When I ask him questions, he doesn't say 'I don't know,' anymore. He usually has an answer."
Now it's time to answer last year's disappointing season.
"It's in the past. I'm looking ahead," Allen said. "I feel like I'm more vocal. I feel like I've learned to embrace contact and become more assertive driving the ball and getting to the free-throw line."
And away from the floor?
"I feel like there's a lot of weight off my shoulders," he said.
The Gators won 21 games last season even with the up-and-down of their potentially high-scoring shooting guard KeVaughn Allen (5).
Hudson and Allen (or Allen and Hudson, depending on the night) figure to be scoring options "1" and "1a" this season. If Allen is sincere about committing to being heard on the floor, as well as a newfound aggression to attack the basket, those elements will go a long way toward making the Gators the best team they can be.
"It's definitely been good to hear his voice more often," senior center and close friend Kevarrius Hayes said.
Added White: "A lot of people have been harping on him about it for a long time, so I knew it would come out eventually, and I'm just glad to see it coming out now in a critical time. Especially in a season where we're going to need him to perform and play well."
That's the expectation.
And not just of the Gators.
"I told him I expect him to go out and give it everything he has, to make not only me proud, but to make himself proud and make Kahn proud and leave it all on the court," Curry said. "I know he has dreams beyond playing college basketball, but those dreams won't come true by being the same KeVaughn. I want him to be loud, play loud and shock Gainesville."
