WASHUT: Despite the highs, NU and Allen weren't meant to be
Nebraska knew full well it was taking a gamble by signing Teddy Allen back in December of 2019, and in many cases, that bet paid off in a major way.
Allen's past was checkered and well-documented, and he arrived in Lincoln with baggage and a reputation, some of it valid, some of it not.
But for the first 13 months of his Husker career, the junior guard was everything NU needed him to be.
He didn't get in trouble, and there were no blowups with the coaching staff or other players. Allen was a good teammate, and he'd even emerged as one of the public faces of the program before this season.
Known for his knack for scoring in a flurry of ways, the former 2017 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year at Boys Town was everything head coach Fred Hoiberg had hoped through the first half of the season.
Allen averaged a team-high 16.5 points with 4.7 rebounds per game, including eight outings with 20 or more points. No other Husker currently has more than one.
At his best, the Mesa, Ariz., native hit the game-winning shot at Penn State on Feb. 14 to snap NU's 25-game Big Ten losing streak.
Two weeks later, he set a Pinnacle Bank Arena record with 41 points in the rematch with the Nittany Lions in Lincoln. His point total was one shy of matching the school's single-game record of 42, set by Eric Piatkowski in the 1994 Big Eight Tournament.
Combined with his eight rebounds and career-high six assists, Allen put together one of the best individual performances in program history that night, even if it came in a 86-83 defeat.
But Allen's path with the Huskers came to a screeching halt shortly thereafter.
He played 20 minutes in the next game at Illinois, scoring just seven points on 3-of-7 shooting with three turnovers.
The next time out vs. Minnesota, Allen saw a season-low 10 minutes of action and was held scoreless for the first time this season.
Two days later, a press release with prepared statements was sent out announcing Allen's departure from the program.
In the release, Allen thanked everyone at Nebraska, from the coaches to his teammates to the fans, and said he wanted to get "fully healthy in preparation for the next step in my basketball journey."
Allen was seen grabbing his right shooting wrist during his record performance vs. Penn State, and Hoiberg later said Allen had been dealing with a lingering wrist injury for some time before that.
But the decision to part ways had little to do with the injury and almost everything with the Allen-Nebraska marriage not being the right fit for either side.
Allen is a player who needs the ball in his hands and a high-volume of shots to do what he does best - get buckets.
In Hoiberg's system, which is predicated on pace, flow, and ball movement, Allen's isolation style often clashed with what NU's offense wanted to be.
Allen is a player who wears all of his emotions on his sleeve, and that occasionally got the best of him at Nebraska.
He was benched per Hoiberg's decision for the game at Minnesota on Feb. 8 after going 1-for-10 from the field with three turnovers in the previous contest at Michigan State.
That frustration gradually led to Allen's dramatic swings in playing time over the last couple of weeks. Over his final four games, Allen scored six, seven, 41, and zero points.
Now that Allen's time as a Husker is officially over, it's hard to gauge how the fan base will remember him.
On the one hand, his 22 games saw some of the most impressive scoring efforts Nebraska basketball has seen in years. On the other, he had just as many disappointing and frustrating moments before ending his NU career with at least four more games still to play this season.
Allen has always been an easy target due to his emotional and unconventional style, tattooed look, and troubled history.
But Nebraska knew precisely what it was getting when it signed him 14 months ago, and at times, that risk was well worth the reward.
In the end, it became clear that both sides needed to cash in their chips and leave the table.