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OREM — Drake Allen is coming home.
The 6-foot-4 wing from Eagle Mountain who started all 37 games and averaged 11.0 points, 3.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game for Southern Utah en route to a Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship game appearance announced his decision to transfer Tuesday after an offseason that included his coach Todd Simon accepting a new job at Bowling Green.
Instead of following his coach across the country, Allen will stay in the WAC.
Allen, who starred at Westlake High before going on to earn junior college second-team All-America honors at Snow College, committed to Utah Valley and new coach Todd Phillips, he announced Wednesday on Instagram.
"I think Coach Phillips is going to do a great job, and they've already had a great building up of the program," Allen told KSL.com, noting he "will always cherish" the experiences he had at SUU. "They've gotten to the point the last couple of years where they and Southern Utah are two of the best programs.
"With Coach Simon and those guys leaving, it was an opportunity for me to move closer to home."
Allen will have two seasons of eligibility remaining after playing three seasons of college basketball, including the COVID-19 impacted season of 2020-21 as a freshman at Snow.
With Phillips, who won a national championship at Salt Lake Community College before coaching back-to-back WAC Players of the Year as forwards coach at Utah Valley, Allen felt like the system fit his skillset. The All-WAC newcomer team selection now joins a program that won two regular-season league championships in four years under former coach Mark Madsen.
"It's a great opportunity," he said. "We're going to play fast, it's going to be fun basketball; we're going to dunk, we're going to shoot the heck out of it, and at the end of the day, I think we're going to have the most fun basketball to watch in the state of Utah. That's what I'm most excited about."
The wing prospect who had interest from most in-state institutions, including BYU, Utah and UNLV as well as his former coach at Bowling Green (among others), averaged 12.8 points and 2.2 steals per game two years ago in helping the Badgers to a 26-8 overall record and a spot in the NJCAA national tournament before signing with the Thunderbirds.
In the school's first season in the WAC, Allen joined a group of veteran leaders in helping Southern Utah to a 24-13 record before falling in double overtime in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational.
While the Thunderbirds hired Rob Jeter from Western Illinois following the season, Allen — along with several teammates — entered the NCAA transfer portal. Starting center Jason Spurgin followed Simon to Bowling Green. And while Allen was tempted to follow, he also wanted to stay close to the Beehive State.
"They were definitely in my top 3, with Utah State and Utah Valley, I guess you could say. Bowling Green was right up there," said Allen, whose fiancee Halle is a sophomore defender on the Utah Tech women's soccer team and whose younger brother Jax plays for Cedar Valley. "I love that coaching staff, and I have nothing bad to say about those guys.
"At the end of the day, it came down to what I thought would be best for me and my family. They're still great friends, and I love those guys with all my heart."
