When Tre Holloman hit the transfer portal this past offseason, Michigan State fans were shocked. It felt like Holloman was the perfect Spartan and a true OKG, as Tom Izzo would say, but he felt like his role in East Lansing wasn’t what he wanted so he decided to look for a new home.
That’s when Holloman landed on NC State.
The Wolfpack just hired Will Wade as the new head coach, and he must’ve sold Holloman on more playing time or a larger role or more time at point guard, because leaving a Hall of Famer and national title contender to join a rebuilding program felt like a poor career move.
Still, he had a lot of fans’ support. It was a tough loss at the time, but he was good to Michigan State basketball, and he seemingly loved his time in East Lansing (he was even a staple at a local bar).
Holloman lost respect from a good chunk of fans, though, because they felt like he left for money or something was promised to him elsewhere. With all the tampering that goes on in today’s college athletics, it wouldn’t be all that shocking if Wade were to have reached out while he was in the middle of his NCAA Tournament run with Michigan State. I have no inside info on that, just a hunch.
It wasn’t until his cheap shot directed at Izzo that Michigan State fans really started to turn on him. He had his first breakout game with NC State in November and tweeted something along the lines of “it’s amazing what can happen when you have a coach who trusts you”.
Well, it looks like Wade’s trust might be wearing thin.
Tre Holloman is back in his same role that he had at Michigan State
After starting every game this season, Holloman was relegated to the bench on Wednesday night against Texas Southern. It may have been for a different reason, but Will Wade went off on his team following a 108-72 win, saying that it had way too many “casual personalities”.
He went on to say that one player came up to him and told him that he’s tough, and Wade responded with “you’re not even one of the 50 toughest players I’ve coached” — that should really tell you where this team is currently at in Wade’s mind. He simply doesn’t seem to like his team’s makeup.
Back to Holloman. He’s sliding back into the role he had at Michigan State. Actually, Wednesday night was an even smaller role. He played 18 minutes which was good for seventh-most on the team.
He wasn’t even NC State’s sixth man.
Holloman did have a decent night, scoring nine points with four rebounds and three assists, but this was just another casual night for the senior.
Since breaking out for 25 points and taking a shot at Izzo, Holloman has scored over 11 points just one time. He’s also shooting just over 40 percent from the floor during that span.
So Holloman left Michigan State for a larger role, and now he’s sliding back into the same role. Heck, even less of a role than the one he’d have in East Lansing this season. Worth it?