UCLA’s Allen announces commitment

Hawaii basketball has its fifth commitment for its 2016 class.

UCLA wing Noah Allen told the Star-Advertiser on Tuesday that he’ll be transferring to Manoa for his final year of eligibility as a graduate student.

“It’s a great opportunity and I am blessed and thankful to the coaching staff and the University of Hawaii,” Allen messaged the Star-Advertiser.

The 6-foot-7, 215-pound Allen is looking for a chance to be an impact player. As a junior in the recently completed season, he contributed 1.0 points and 0.7 rebounds in 6.4 minutes per game in 24 contests with the Pac-12’s Bruins. His skill-set is that of a slasher/driver with some ball-handling ability.

His most meaningful action came as a sophomore, when he put up 1.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg and 0.9 assists per game in all 36 games of UCLA’s 2014-15 season.

Thanks to a strong academic effort over three years, Allen is poised to wrap up his undergraduate degree and is eligible to play right away. He is aware of UH’s postseason ban for the coming season.

Allen, of Pacific Grove, Calif., visited the Manoa campus about a week and a half ago. He felt comfortable with UH coach Eran Ganot and assistant Adam Jacobsen in part because he knew both from their days at Saint Mary’s and Pacific. They each tried to recruit Allen, who wound up choosing UCLA.

More comments from Allen in Wednesday’s print edition of the Star-Advertiser.

UH should still have three scholarships to assign for next season, even with the NCAA’s sanctions reducing the count to 11.

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UH is expected to make the signings of Allen and Latvian forward Zigmars Raimo (his commitment previously reported here) official sometime today.

UPDATE: UH announced the official signings of Allen and Raimo this afternoon.

Here was what Ganot had to say about Allen:

“We are very excited to be adding a great player, and committed student to our program. Noah is a high character person with a great work ethic. We feel that his versatility as a player is his biggest strength — he can defend, rebound, pass, and score. He is committed to getting better and is very excited to be joining our program.”

And Ganot on Raimo:

“Zigmars is a leader and brings a wealth of international experience to our program. He has played at the highest level in Europe and for one of the most respected clubs in Latvia — VEF Riga. He brings great versatility to our program with the ability to pass, defend and rebound from different positions.”