Tag: Aden Holloway

Former Auburn guard set to visit Alabama this week

Aden Holloway entered the transfer portal after one season at Auburn, and his first known visit will be to rival Alabama.

The rivalry between Auburn and Alabama has spiked in recent years due to the success of both programs under their current leadership. However, another chapter could be written thanks to the Transfer Portal.

Former Auburn guard [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] entered the transfer portal earlier this month and has scheduled his first known visit. According to Brett Greenberg of 247Sports, Holloway is set to visit Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide on Thursday, April 18. Greenberg says that Alabama wants to add another hot name to its roster to replace the loss of Rylan Griffin, Nick Pringle, Kris Parker, Davin Cosby, and Sam Walters, who have entered the transfer portal.

Holloway was Auburn’s lone high school signee from the 2023 recruiting cycle. He was a great addition by being the No. 3 guard of the class and the No. 16 overall recruit. He was also tabbed as a McDonald’s All-American.

However, he never really stepped up to become Auburn’s top guard. Holloway appeared in 35 games last season with 26 starts. He averaged 7.3 points, and 2.7 assists, and shot 31% from the field while playing just 21 minutes per game. Because of this, both Holloway and Tre Donaldson have elected to look for new opportunities within the transfer portal, allowing Auburn to explore new options with incoming freshman Tahaad Pettiford and Furman transfer JP Pegues at the guard position.

Holloway is the No. 11 point guard in the transfer portal and is the No. 41 overall player. Michigan is also expected to be a player for Holloway, as he and Donaldson are both expected to visit Ann Arbor this weekend according to 247Sports.

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Aden Holloway enters the transfer portal

After two of Auburn’s guards announced their leave from the program, former five-star guard Aden Holloway does the same as he enters the portal.

Following Auburn basketball’s loss on March 22 to the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament, players are beginning to make their decisions on what their future with the team looks like for the 2024-25 season.

The Tigers have had a couple of players enter the transfer portal for next season, including the likes of guards [autotag]KD Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Tre Donaldson[/autotag].

Now, that list has been extended, as freshman and former five-star McDonald’s All-American [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] announced his intent to enter the portal on Tuesday as well.

The high school phenom was ranked as the No. 18 player in the nation in the 2023 recruiting class according to the On3 industry ranking. He committed to Auburn in August 2022.

Holloway was a starter on the roster for most of the 2023-24 season. He played in all 35 games this season, averaging 20.2 minutes per game over the course of the year.

The freshman showed signs of being an early star in his college campaign, but also struggled mightily at moments as well. He saw his minutes decrease at the end of January and into the better part of February as his shooting struggles continued to mount.

Holloway finished his first season scoring 7.3 points per game. His highest-scoring performance this season came against the Indiana Hoosiers in Atlanta, where he scored 24 points. He hit seven buckets in that game, with five of them being from 3-point land.

He averaged 1.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists on the year, so while not ever being a player to crash the glass in games, he shared the ball a good amount. He reached his season-high of six assists in a game on four separate occasions, including in the Tiger’s first game against Baylor.

Holloway enters the portal as most likely a highly sought out player, but has not indicated any clues on where he might be headed.

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Recap: Auburn emphatically punches ticket into SEC Tournament Semis

If you had any doubts about Auburn’s ability to make a deep run into March, the Tigers proved that pessimism was unwarranted on Friday afternoon in Nashville.

If you had any doubts about Auburn’s ability to make a deep run into March, the Tigers proved that pessimism was unwarranted on Friday afternoon in Nashville.

[autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag]’s Tigers absolutely bullied the South Carolina Gamecocks for 40 minutes in an 86-55 SEC Tournament Quarterfinal win. If not for a few early offensive rebounds by B.J. Mack and the other Gamecock forwards this thing would have never been close.

Auburn’s No. 7 ranked KenPom defense showed up massively, holding South Carolina to a measly 55 points in the game. The aforementioned Mack along with other star Meechie Johnson combined for just 17 points, which is nearly 11 points lower than their per game average this season.

On the offensive end, things didn’t change much from what we saw in the regular season. The Tigers ran their sets through star forward [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag], relying heavily on the junior’s presence to not only score but create open looks for the guards.

Auburn’s best player finished his afternoon with a game-high 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. Frontcourt mate [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] played a solid game as well, but it was the backcourt quartet of [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag], [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag], [autotag]Trae Donaldson[/autotag] and [autotag]Denver Jones[/autotag] that stood out on Broadway.

Baker-Mazara was his normal “stat-stuffing” self with 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists, while Jones, Donaldson and Holloway shot an extremely efficient 50% from the field for 21 combined points.

Senior [autotag]K.D Johnson[/autotag] was his usual, “sparkplug”, self off the bench as well, adding 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.

If Bruce Pearl can get that kind of production and efficiency from his guards during the remainder of the postseason, the sky is truly the limit for Auburn in March.

Next up for the Tigers is a matchup right back in Bridgestone Arena against Mississippi State at 12:00 PM Central with a trip to the SEC Championship on the line.

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Three Tigers receive All-SEC Team honors

Auburn Forwards Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams along with freshman Aden Holloway receive All-SEC honors.

Three Auburn Tigers earned spots on the SEC men’s basketball all-conference teams on Monday. Forwards [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] along with freshman [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] received honors from the league.

Broome, who was in the running for SEC Player of the Year, earned a spot on the All-SEC First Team as well as the All-SEC Defensive Team after a spectacular junior season in which he averaged 16.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game.

Broome improved in all three statistical categories during his second season on the Plains. His 2.1 dimes per contest was a career-high.

Despite playing nearly 2 fewer minutes per fixture this season, Auburn’s leader produced nearly identical defensive statistics of 2.3 blocks and 0.9 steals as he did a year ago. Most notably, Broome was able to stay out of foul trouble by cutting his 3 fouls per game down to 2.4

Front-court mate Jaylin Williams found himself on the All-SEC Second Team after assembling the best season of his career in 2023-2024. The senior put up career-highs in points per game (12.9), field goal percentage (57.7%), and 3-point percentage (39.7).

The longest-tenured Tiger also enjoyed his best free throw percentage (82.5) since his freshmen season when he only appeared in 14 games.

Five-star freshmen Aden Holloway also received honors from the league as he was named to the All-SEC Freshmen Team after an up-and-down first season in front of the Jungle.

After scoring 18 points in the first game of the year against Baylor, Holloway struggled to find his stroke from beyond the 3-point arc but still managed to command [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag]’s offense well.

The 19-year-old from Charlotte finished the season averaging nearly 3 assists per game while committing less than a turnover per outing. Even with the shooting struggles, Holloway managed to finish fifth on the team with 7.8 points per game.

Auburn’s 3 selections to the All-SEC team are tied with Florida, Mississippi State, Tennessee and South Carolina for the second most selections in the conference.

Only Kentucky (4), had more players selected to All-SEC Teams.

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Gallery: Auburn wins battle of the Tigers, beats Missouri for win No. 24

The best images from Auburn’s blowout win over Missouri

The Auburn Tigers took care of business on the road Tuesday night, winning yet another game by double digits, this time over the Missouri Tigers.

Bruce Pearl’s team was favored by 11 heading into the game so the result is no surprise. Still, some Tigers showed great things in the win.

Forward Jaylin Williams looked like his old self after two sub-par games returning from injury, while guards [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag] and [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] stepped up in the absence of [autotag]Lior Berman[/autotag].

The Tigers’ 101 points were the most they’ve scored since February 14 against South Carolina. We’ll see if they can carry that offensive output into the remainder of March.

Here are some of the best photos from Auburn’s dominant win.

Auburn attempts to make dash at top 10 in College Sports Wire’s power rankings

With just a few games left in the regular season, Auburn comes in at No. 11 in the latest edition of College Sports Wire’s power rankings.

Auburn basketball is in the final stretch of its 2024 regular season, trying to make some final strides towards a good ranking in a final polls. After winning on the road over Georgia on Saturday, the Tigers find themselves doing just that.

Auburn rose up to the No. 11 spot in both the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Poll. Andy Patton seems to view the Tigers the exact same way, as they are also ranked No. 11 in College Sports Wire’s power rankings.

In Auburn’s victory against the Bulldogs, it shot over 60% from the field and over 50% from 3-point range. Four different players found their way into double digits in the scoring column, including [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag], who had been struggling as of late.

Patton has the Tigers as the second-highest-ranked SEC team, only trailing to Tennessee at No. 4, which is who Auburn plays next on Wednesday. No. 14 Alabama, No. 20 Kentucky and No. 21 Florida also sit firmly in the standings, making up the rest of the five-team conference representation this week. Houston, UConn, Purdue and North Carolina make up the other teams in the top five.

The Tigers’ huge week began with a tough loss to No. 4 Tennessee on Wednesday, but will look to bounce back against Mississippi State in a revenge game on Saturday.

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Social media reacts to Auburn’s blowout win over Georgia

Auburn fans were ecstatic to watch their team get back on track with a 21-point win at rival Georgia.

The No. 14 Auburn Tigers got back on track Saturday by crushing rival Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, 97-76.

Auburn shot 62% in the game and connected on 54% from three-point territory while out-rebounding Georgia, 33-24. There were also several coming out parties in the game. [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag] scored a career-high 25 points while pulling down five rebounds and assisting with four additional shots.

[autotag]Chaney Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] also played the best games of their short Auburn career on Saturday. Johnson was given the task of replacing injured [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] at the forward position and did so beautifully by scoring 16 points and pulling down four rebounds. Holloway returned to the lineup and ended the game with 15 points and three assists.

Auburn fans were excited to watch their favorite team earn a big SEC win on Saturday. Here are the best social media reactions to Auburn’s win over Georgia.

Recap: Auburn hangs on to beat Georgia in Athens

Forward Chad Baker-Mazara may be one of the newest Tigers on the roster, but the junior was a leader on both ends of the floor in Athens. 

No. 14 Auburn came into Saturday’s matchup against Georgia with one major question mark. After a week off, head coach [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] had to figure out how his Tigers were going to replace the production of injured star forward [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag].

Pearl got the answer to that question almost instantly as Auburn rolled to a 97-76 win over Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens.

Forward [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag] may be one of the newest Tigers on the roster, but the junior was a leader on both ends of the floor in Athens.

Baker-Mazara scored or assisted on 17 of the Tigers’ first 27 points as they got out to an early 27-15 lead. From there, fellow first-year Tigers [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] and [autotag]Chaney Johnson[/autotag] picked up the slack.

Holloway was particularly impressive, as his 5 threes on the road were more than the freshmen had made over his last four SEC games combined. Johnson made an equal impact by scoring 16 points in his first start of the season replacing the aforementioned Williams.

Although Auburn never trailed in the contest, the lead did get as low as three points when the Bulldogs bit back early in the second half off the back of guard Noah Thomasson.

UGA’s best player may have made the game interesting but it was ultimately Auburn’s best performer that took over in the win. Following the Thomasson led run, junior [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] scored 7 straight to balloon the lead back to double-digits.

The SEC Player of the Year candidate seemed quite all night but managed to finish with yet another double-double, scoring 16 points and adding 13 rebounds,

Broome’s 16 points tied Chaney Johnson for second on the team behind Baker-Mazara’s 25.

Auburn’s 97-76 win proved [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag]’s squad can look dominant amid injury issues. If the Tigers can click like this once Williams gets healthy, the second or third weekend of the NCAA Tournament looks more and more likely.

With that being said, the Tigers will have their hands full when they take on a very good Tennessee team on Wednesday night in Knoxville.

As for Georgia, the Bulldogs will travel to LSU on Tuesday night with a chance to get back on track.

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Recap: Auburn falls to Kentucky in worst performance of season

The wheels fell off for the Auburn Tigers on Saturday night. Bruce Pearl’s team was outplayed for 40 straight minutes against Kentucky.

The No. 12 Auburn Tigers have been a wagon all season long at Neville Arena. On Saturday, that wagon lost all four wheels, headed downhill, and crashed into “Village Dining.”

Auburn’s offense which had been so potent at home all year mustered just 59 points against a sub-par, at best, No. 20 Kentucky defense. Stars [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] were largely ineffective, and the latter ultimately was forced out of the game halfway through the second half due to injury in the Tigers 70-59 loss to the Wildcats.

Frankly, all Tigers other than guard [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag] were virtual no-shows in front of the College GameDay crowd.

The offensive issues were enough to sink the Tigers against a solid Kentucky offense that did just enough on the road. Guards Austin Reeves and Rob Dillingham weren’t fantastic, but the duo was able to draw foul after foul, frustrating Auburn’s perimeter defense for 40 minutes.

That frustration obviously boiled over on the offensive end for players such as [autotag]K.D Johnson[/autotag] (3/10 from the field), Tre Donaldson (0/3 from the field), and [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag] (1/5 from the field). Holloway in particular continued his brutal stretch. The freshmen is now just two for his last 21 from three-point range on the season.

Auburn’s loss is tragic for a variety of reasons, the most glaring being they now trail rival Alabama by 1.5 games in the SEC with just five contests remaining. With a road game against No.9 Tennessee in Knoxville still on the schedule, Auburn’s chances of capturing a regular season SEC Championship are extremely slim.

On the bright side, the Tigers will have a full week to regroup before they travel to Athens to take on a mediocre Georgia team next Saturday.

As for Kentucky, the Wildcats now have life in the SEC hunt, especially with games against LSU and in Rupp Arena against Alabama next week.

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Gallery: The best images from Auburn’s road loss to Mississippi State

The Auburn Tigers have lost consecutive games for the first time this season. Here are some of the best photos from the loss on Saturday.

The No. 6 Auburn Tigers are currently experiencing its first losing streak of the 2023-2024 basketball season.

Just three days after losing a heartbreaker in Tuscaloosa, Auburn failed to win another road matchup in Starkville, MS.

[autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag], [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag], and company couldn’t get anything going all afternoon on the offensive side of the ball, as Auburn scored just 58 points. That total was far and away the lowest of the year.

[autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag]’s squad has now fallen to fourth in the SEC after leading the way in the conference for all of 2024.

Here are some of the best photos from the shocking loss.