Tre Holloman isn’t the main player on the Michigan State team.
He doesn’t start, is averaging less than 10 points, and hasn’t scored double digits in assists or rebounds in a game this season.
Standing at 6-foot-2, he won’t overpower players in the post. He also has a 34.3% shooting rate from the 3-point line.
But he knows how to win games.
In Michigan State’s last five games — the regular-season finale against Michigan, two Big Ten tournament games, and two NCAA Tournament victories — he’s averaging 12.8 points, making 47.6% of his 3-pointers, and averaging three assists to one turnover.
His biggest moment during this time happened during a break in the game.
For the last 30 years, Michigan State seniors have had a tradition of kissing the center-court logo when they leave the floor for the last time. It started with Shawn Respert on Senior Day in 1995 after a record-breaking career, and Mateen Cleaves helped bring it back into the spotlight during the 2000 NCAA championship season.
However, on March 9, Michigan’s Phat Phat Brooks and L.J. Cason stood on the logo in the last minute of Michigan State’s 79-62 win, trying to ruin the tradition.
Holloman and Jaden Akins asked them to move, and when they didn’t, Holloman moved them himself. This led to a small shoving match, and both Holloman and Cason were given technical fouls.
Holloman, who finished with 20 points, did his part, allowing the seniors to finish their tradition.
“I was just trying to do the best thing for my seniors and let them get their moment,” he said. “Coach told me that we needed me for the Big Ten tournament, so I couldn’t lash out, but I wanted to protect the tradition.”
Spartans coach Tom Izzo praised Holloman for protecting a tradition that has spread beyond the men’s basketball team.
“Shawn started it and Mateen took it over, and now it is something our hockey team, our women’s (basketball) team and our softball team and our baseball team… that’s who we are and I’m damn proud of it,” Izzo said. “We have to make sure we handle ourselves right, but that’s what rivalries are all about.
“If everyone is hugging and kissing out there, it probably isn’t a rivalry.”
Holloman wasn’t amazing in the Big Ten tournament, scoring six points in a win over Oregon and 10 in a loss to Wisconsin, but he has stepped up in the NCAA Tournament. He has scored 14 points in each game — a 87-62 win over Bryant and a 71-63 victory against New Mexico — and he’s making key plays. He’s 6 for 10 on 3-pointers and has eight assists with no turnovers.
“We started out slow, so I was trying to bring some energy off the bench with my shooting and defense,” Holloman said after adding three steals and a block against New Mexico. “I’m trying to be a leader and a point guard and just play hard for my teammates.”
That’s the role Izzo has wanted Holloman to take on since moving him from the starting lineup to the sixth-man spot in February.
“He’s a starter for us, he’s just the sixth starter,” Izzo said. “He’s just as valuable to us in a lot of ways. It helps our rotation the way we did it — it has nothing to do with his skill.”
A win against Ole Miss on Friday will put Michigan State into the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010, but it could mean more. With a victory, the Spartans will get a chance to watch Friday’s second game in Atlanta, with Auburn taking on Michigan.
A Wolverines win would set up the first NCAA Tournament meeting between Michigan and Michigan State, and it would happen with a Final Four spot on the line.
The Wolverines and Spartans each have NCAA championship banners in their gyms, but that game would be as big as any they’ve played in a long time.
