Seth Allen adjusts to life as a Maryland Univ.basketball player - ALL-MET ELITE

Seth Allen adjusts to life as a

Maryland Univ.basketball player 

 ALL-MET ELITE

FREDERICKSBURG CHRISTIAN HS.

FREDERICKSBURG VA.

 

College Park, Md. – Seth Allen of Woodbridge was an explosive offensive player in high school and took just 42 games to score 1,000 points during his time at Fredericksburg Christian.

But Allen’s improvement on defense in the last few weeks has caught the attention of Mark Turgeon, his new head coach at the University of Maryland.

“Seth Allen is a big-time athlete and can really score the basketball. But he is a better defender than I expected,” Turgeon said of Allen, a freshman guard for the Terps who is days away from the start of practice for his first college season.

How has Allen gotten better since summer workouts?

“Defense. I am way better defender than I was,” Allen said during Maryland’s annual media day here late Tuesday afternoon at the Comcast Center. “Coach stresses the more you play defense the more you play. Defense gets you on the court. I took more pride in it. I put more effort into it. High school was more about offense. Here it is more about defense  or you don’t play.”

Allen was rated as the No. 42 shooting guard in the country by ESPN and the seventh-best player in Virginia coming out of high school. He averaged 20 points, five assists and four rebounds per game as a senior at Fredericksburg Christian.

Allen was the first player to commit to Maryland under Turgeon, who took over the Terps from Gary Williams prior to the 2011-12 season.

Now Allen is a few weeks into his first fall semester in College Park. The Terps were 17-15 last season.

“The biggest adjustment is probably the schoolwork and staying ahead of the schoolwork, and basketball practice and working out every day,” he said. “You have to get used to it.”

Allen was mostly a shooting guard in high school but figures to be used more as a point guard for Maryland.

“In high school I preferred the two but I understand I have to play the one here,” he said. “It is different. I am getting more used to it. By November I should have it down.”

“It has been difficult to change from the two to the one. The intensity is way harder. Your heart is beating faster. You have to calm yourself down and play. At first it was (tough). I am getting used to it,” he added.

The Terrapins begin regular-season play Nov. 9 against defending champion Kentucky at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Barclays Center is the new home of the Brooklyn Nets.

“I am most excited for theKentuckygame, being able to play with all the fans and representingWoodbridgeandMaryland,” Allen said

Maryland returns junior guard Pe’Shon Howard, who had 52 assists in 14 games last year but missed several games due to an ankle and foot injury last season.

“Playing time is really up to coach Turgeon,” Allen said. “I have to try my best and work hard and help my teammates.”

Allen said his pull-up jumper is probably the most improved part of his game.

“I am very explosive and I want to get to the rim but I know you can’t (always) do that in the ACC. Guys will slide over and take the charge,” he said.

Turgeon used the term “world-class athlete” when referring to Allen on Tuesday.

“That is crazy. I don’t look like the guy that is athletic,” Allen said. “That is good for me. I jump with the big guys in practice every day.”

Allen is the youngest of four children and the son of Joe and Deborah Allen. His father played running back at Arizona State University and his brother Brandon played basketball at Mount Olive in North Carolina. Allen, who played two years at Fredericksburg Christian after transferring there from Hylton, picked the Terps due to the coaching staff and the school’s location near his family.

“At 6-1 he can really cover a lot of ground,” Turgeon said of Allen. “He has really good body control. He gets in the passing lanes. That is what I was impressed with.”