The latest on Dakarai Allen

"3 thoughts: SDSU 67, UNLV 52" -- Mark Ziegler

A Nor Cal-related excerpt: "Dakarai Allen talked openly before the season about his goals for his junior year. He wanted to start, and he did that. He also wanted to break the habit of showing well in October practices, doing some good stuff in November nonconference games, then tailing off once the conference began and slipping farther down the bench by March.

“It actually did happen again,” Allen said. “Once I lost my starting spot (in mid-December), I lost a lot of confidence.”

So consider Saturday night in Las Vegas a personal triumph for the 6-foot-5 wing from the Sacramento area. Since reaching double figures five times in the first eight games and averaging 10.1 points, he was scoring 3.5 while shooting 22.8 percent. His career high in 40 previous Mountain West games was six points.

“Coach Fisher gave me a book called ‘Performing under pressure,’” Allen said. “It talked about not magnifying situations. I used to always magnify myself missing shots. I just realized that I’m playing for Steve Fisher and he doesn’t care if I miss shots, so why should I? These last couple games in conference, I’ve just been trying to shoot and keep my positivity if it goes in or out. Tonight they fell.”

Saturday: Ten points on 4 of 5 shooting in 17 productive, meaningful minutes. He also made both his 3-point attempts, including the game’s most important basket, from the left wing after UNLV had closed to 41-40 midway through the second half.

“He made some huge plays for us at both ends of the court,” Fisher said. “His 3s were so timely, as were the baskets he drove and finished. It gives him confidence, and it gives me confidence. We say: ‘Next play, next play.’ Today he didn’t need the ‘next play’ because he was making the first play. Yeah, I’m very proud of him.”