Trojans fills void at guard with the addition of Allen


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Four days.

That’s all it took for USC men’s basketball coach Kevin O’Neill to pick up the pieces from this week’s announcement that freshman guard Bryce Jones would be transferring schools.

Friday the Trojans announced they have received a verbal commitment from Greg Allen, a shooting guard from Navarro College (Corsicana, Texas).

Allen is returning to California, where he starred at Eureka High School in Northern California from 2006-2009.

At 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, Allen made his name as the Loggers’ point guard during his senior season.

During the 2008-2009 campaign, Allen’s scoring prowess was put on display, as he averaged 25.1 points per game and shot almost 37 percent from three-point range.

In 18 games at Navarro this year, USC’s newest acquisition averaged 11.9 points per game, 40.2 percent from behind the three-point arc and 84.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Allen, who chose USC over Boston College, provides the Trojans with not only a three-point shooter (which aside from senior guard Donte Smith are few and far between this season), but a defensive-minded player who is known for guarding the other team’s top offensive threat on the perimeter.

The addition of Allen bolsters an already impressive 2012 recruiting class for USC, which includes combo guard Larry Lewis (Arcadia High School in Phoenix) and local standout guard Katin Reinhardt (Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif.).

Allen’s return to Division-I basketball caps off a remarkable two-year journey, as he initially committed to Creighton University out of high school, but failed to even attend a semester at the Omaha, Neb.-based school.

The junior college transfer will be able to play for the Trojans in 2011 and will have two years of eligibility left.