Alabama coach Nate Oats said the Crimson Tide are preparing to play without Aden Holloway in the NCAA tournament following the star guard’s arrest Monday morning on a felony drug charge.
Holloway was “removed from campus” and not with the team four days before its tournament opener against Hofstra on Friday, a team spokesperson said. Hours earlier, authorities found more than a pound of marijuana at a home, leading to Holloway’s arrest.
“We got standards in our program and we’ve got ways we’ve held our guys accountable. And we try to keep everything in-house, obviously some of the situations you can’t, and this is one of those,” Oats said on his radio show Monday night. “We found out about what was going on this morning, I found out this morning. I guess it all went down this morning. And we had to suspend him pending the investigation. …
“We’re certainly disappointed in his behavior. But that being said, we still love him, he’s still our guy. We’re helping him get the help that he needs and we’re going to continue to help him whatever way we can. But as far as our team goes, I thought we had a great practice, we’re preparing to play without him this weekend.”
According to Tuscaloosa County police spokesperson Stephanie Taylor, Holloway was arrested Monday morning and transported to the Tuscaloosa County Jail after agents with the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force searched a local residence and “recovered more than a pound of marijuana, paraphernalia and cash.”
Holloway posted a $5,000 bond and was released from jail Monday morning. He is facing a first-degree drug possession charge and a failure to affix a tax stamp charge, both felonies. In the state of Alabama, a first-degree drug possession charge can carry a penalty of up to 10 years in jail or a $15,000 fine.
Holloway, a 6-foot-1 guard, is averaging 16.8 points, second on an Alabama team ranked third nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency. The Crimson Tide are also leading the nation in scoring at 91.7 points per game. With Holloway on the court this season, Alabama has been 9.7 points per 100 possessions better on offense, according to EvanMiya.com, than it has been without him. Holloway also has been the leading scorer in four of the team’s past 11 games. He’s an elite 3-point shooter (44%) and possesses the highest offensive rating on the team, per KenPom.
His absence would put more pressure on Labaron Philon Jr., a projected first-round pick in the NBA draft this summer. Alabama shoots more 3-pointers, per possession, than any team in the country, and Holloway is the team’s top 3-point shooter.
He scored 18 points Friday in his team’s loss to Ole Miss in the opening round of the SEC tournament.
With an NCAA tournament opener looming against a Hofstra squad that has lost one game since Jan. 29, Oats said his team had to move forward.
“While at the same time, Aden is one of our guys and everybody wants to wrap their arms around and love him,” Oats said on his radio show. “Everybody makes mistakes in life, but they also understand, we’ve got to move on and we’ve got a whole other group of guys and the team’s got to go play Friday. I thought we did a good job of that this morning, kind of addressing the situation.
“I did tell our team, this team — more than any team I’ve ever coached — is better equipped to handle a situation like this. We’ve won plenty of games with guys not available.”
ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello contributed to this report.
