Allen now stands guard over Huskies

It didn't take long for freshman point guard Chaisson Allen (left, battling Harvard's Andrew Pusar for a loose ball) to get a handle on Northeastern's offense. (File/Robert E. Klein/For the Globe)

Like most incoming freshman basketball players, Chaisson Allen just wanted to find his niche at Northeastern, fit in with his teammates, and earn their respect and confidence.

Check, check, and check.

Along the way, Allen, a 6-foot-4-inch, 185-pound guard from Murfreesboro, Tenn., helped the Huskies go 13-16 (9-9 Colonial Athletic Association) and earn the No. 6 seed for the CAA tournament in Richmond, where Northeastern will square off against 11th-seeded James Madison (13-16, 5-13) tonight at 8:30 in the first round.

"I just wanted to first come in and have a winning season," said Allen, who chose Bill Coen's squad over Boston College, Tulane, Southern Illinois, and his hometown Middle Tennessee State because of the opportunity to make an immediate impact. "Coming in with Coach Coen in his second year here, I just wanted to try and develop a good relationship with him and the rest of my teammates."

NU's leader in assists (3.6) and steals (2.1) per game, Allen, the team's No. 4 scorer (9.1 points per game), made quite a first impression in the season opener with 11 points and 10 rebounds in a 63-55 setback at Illinois.

"When you open your college career at Illinois with a double-double, I think good things are in store for you," Coen said.

Allen followed with 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 7 steals in a 74-72 overtime loss Nov. 15 at Maryland. Four days later, he pumped in 20 points in a 65-58 victory at Boston University, in which he hit a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining to give the Huskies a double-digit lead, then made six free throws in the final minute.

"He kind of came in ready," Coen said, "but there's so much to making the adjustment from a high school point guard to a college point guard."

What adjustments? "Learning the sweet spots of your teammates, learning the rhythm of the game, pacing yourself over 40 minutes because he's one of our leaders in minutes," Coen said. "It's just the mental and physical [toll] that your first year in college basketball can have upon you. He came in college-ready."

A four-year letterman at Oakland High in Murfreesboro, Allen was a 1,000-point scorer who captained his team his junior and senior seasons and earned district MVP honors as a junior. "His high school coach [Randy King] did a terrific job in preparing him, as well as his dad, who was his AAU coach," Coen said. "Both of them did a tremendous job in getting him ready to step right in and make an impact."

Allen's strong court awareness led Coen to hand the freshman, who was named to the CAA all-rookie team yesterday, the keys to NU's offense early in the season.

"When Coach Coen handed it over to me, it felt like I was a quarterback who got to call his own plays," Allen said. "It was early in the season, around the third game when it happened, but I appreciated the confidence Coach had in me to do that. It was a good feeling to know that I had that type of relationship with the coaches."

Allen also cemented a bond with sophomore guard Matt Janning, who last season as the CAA's Rookie of the Year not only had to serve as the Huskies' point guard, but was their No. 2 scorer. With Allen aboard, Janning is able to focus on being more of a scoring threat and not so much of a conduit.

"Last year, Matt played both the 1 [point guard] and the 2 [scoring guard] for us, and when you're playing the point guard, sometimes you have to sacrifice your own scoring," Coen said. "This year, Matt has developed into more of a go-to scorer for us while still providing a great secondary ballhandler out there. So, Chaisson has freed him up to be more of a scorer and you see that in his average [up from 11.6 to 16.4]. He's third in the league in scoring and he was just named second-team All-District 1 by the [National Association of Basketball Coaches], and I think he can attribute some of that success to playing with Chaisson as his point guard."

Allen also made his presence felt on the glass, ranking second overall on the team and third in the league among guards with 4.9 rebounds per game.

"Some point guards don't realize what an advantage they have in being able to rebound the ball, because the opposing point guard is getting back on defense, so they don't have to box out, they just have to go get the ball," Coen said. "Chaisson has great size and length for the position. He can go in against some of the bigger players and stick his nose in there and come away with some terrific rebounds. It really helps us get out on the break when he does that."

More important, Coen said, was Allen's "calming influence over this teammates."

"He's confident and in command and those are attributes that you love to see in a point guard," Coen said. "As a freshman, he's played well beyond his years and he does the things to fill up a stat sheet . . . He's been a tremendous asset for us this year."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.