The Alabama Crimson Tide were slated as a No. 4 seed on Selection Sunday and will take the court Friday at 3:15 p.m. ET against the No. 13 Hofstra Pride in Tampa Bay at Benchmark International Arena.
However, the main focus coming out of Tuscaloosa surrounds star guard Aden Holloway, who the program has determined will not be available — at least for this weekend — due to a serious off-the-court incident that occurred Monday morning.
Breaking his silence on the matter for the first time was head coach Nate Oats, who addressed Holloway’s absence during his “Hey Coach” radio show, emphasizing that the university and program maintain standards and are preparing to play without him after having to suspend him.
“Look, we’ve got standards in our program. We’ve got ways we’ve held our guys accountable. We try to keep everything in-house. Obviously some of the situations you can’t. This is one of those,” Oats said Monday.
“Situation is a little different when we found out what was going on this morning — I found out this morning. I guess it all went down this morning. We had to suspend him pending the investigation by the UA Office of Student Conduct. We’re disappointed in his behavior. With that said, we still love him. He’s still our guy. We’re going to get him the help that he needs. … We’re preparing to play without him this weekend.”
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This suspension completely changes the landscape of Alabama’s team. While the Crimson Tide will enter Friday’s game against Hofstra as the favorite, losing one of their floor generals and top offensive weapons is a major blow.
Holloway has averaged 16.8 points per game across 28 contests, playing 28.4 minutes per game. He ranks second on the roster in scoring behind only Labaron Philon, and he also contributes 3.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 48.1% from the field and 43.8% from 3 — numbers that are crucial to Alabama’s offensive identity.
Now, the question becomes: who will step up in his absence? Much of the burden will fall on Philon and Latrell Wrightsell, but Houston Mallette, who has logged significant bench minutes at guard, will likely need to take on a larger role.
Beyond Philon, Wrightsell, and Mallette, Alabama doesn’t have much depth at the position. If Coach Oats decides to dig deeper into the bench, a player to watch would be true freshman Jalil Bethea.
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