Confidence-filled Aden Holloway emerging as one of Alabama's best pieces

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama guard Aden Holloway is starting to live up to the McDonald’s All-American level billing he received as a high school prospect.

In his latest outing, Holloway led the 4th-ranked Crimson Tide in scoring with 22 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting in Alabama’s 103-87 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night. It was the most recent in a number of efficient scoring games for the sophomore, who has scored double figures in seven of his last eight games.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Holloway committed to Auburn as a 5-star recruit, and left a lot to be desired in his freshman season. He averaged just 7.3 points per game and shot an abysmal 31.8 percent from the floor on the year, struggling to find his footing.

Now, having transferred to Alabama, Holloway’s improved play feels like it always should have been.

“It feels normal,” Holloway said of his Tuesday night performance. “Last year was just abnormal for me. I feel like it was just completely downhill and it was tough getting back up. This year, my coaches, they put a lot of confidence in me. Teammates put a lot of confidence in me. So it just goes hand-in-hand. Super appreciative of all of them, so I would just say it feels a little, just normal. More normal, to get back to playing at a higher level.”

Holloway didn’t get off to the fastest start, taking a little while to fully assimilate and adapt to Alabama’s fast-paced system and learn how to play with the talent around him. But as his comfort levels have increased, his production has done the same.

“He needed to get comfortable in our system. How aggressive do I want him to be? I mean, I can’t get him aggressive enough, to be honest with you,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “What kind of threes do I want him to take? I want to take every single one that’s open. I just think he had to realize, like, what – I think that game where he had 19 threes, what was that South Dakota State maybe, I told him he really should have taken 22 because he passed up three I wish he would have taken. I think his reply to me was, ‘Say no more.’ So from then, get them up. Like, as many as you can get up because he’s not missing many.”

That game against South Dakota State seems to have been a turning point for Holloway. He was shooting 35 percent from beyond the arc headed into that game, which isn’t bad by any means, but against the Jackrabbits he shot 8-of-19 from deep, one of the highest numbers ever attempted by an Alabama player in a single game.

From that game onward Holloway has been lights out, making 21-of-42 shots from downtown over his last seven games for an even 50 percent. In SEC play he’s shooting 56.5 percent from 3-point range, somehow an even better clip. In addition to his shooting he’s vastly improved as a finisher around the rim, making a jump from 34.9 percent inside the arc last season to 63 percent this year.

“It’s extremely hard for a guard to lead a league this good in field goal percentage, so it kind of shows you his skill level, what he’s capable of,” Oats said. “I never want him to pass up an open three. I really don’t care how deep it is. It could be 26, 28 feet. I think it’s going in every time. Those floaters he shoots in the lane, he’s been really good with those, and he’s got a pretty good finishing package at the rim. So his confidence is high.”

Perhaps more paramount than his shooting and scoring abilities, Oats praised how hard Holloway plays every minute he’s on the floor. More so than any unique scoring ability, playing hard is at the top of Oats’ list in terms of importance to play for him.

But I think part of it is he plays hard. I think his effort on defense has been really good,” Oats said. “I think when you play really hard and give an effort like that and you get the skill that you put a lot of time into your skill level, I think things go your way.

“I think things are going his way right now, and I’m super happy for him.”

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