Tre Holloman is a third-year guard at Michigan State who had appeared in 76 games for the Spartans before Wednesday.
Career starts: two. Starts this season: zero.
But with an opponent in North Carolina that starts three guards 6-foot-3 or smaller, and with 6-7 senior Frankie Fidler coming off of five straight poor shooting performances, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo opted to downsize his starting lineup in Wednesday’s third-place game of the Maui Invitational, which is how Holloman ended up getting just the third start of his college career.
He’s 6-2.
And, against UNC, he was great in the Spartans’ 94-91 overtime victory that allowed Michigan State to finish 2-1 in Maui. Holloman took nine shots, made five of them and recorded a stat line of 19 points, seven assists, three steals and two rebounds in 36 minutes against the Tar Heels. He scored the first two points in overtime, assisted on the second two and scored four of the Spartans’ 12 points in the extra period.
Needless to say, after being up 14 points in regulation, Izzo was furious that his team even had to play an extra period. But, afterward, he told longtime college basketball insider Andy Katz that he stayed positive with his players.
“I told them in the huddle,” Izzo said, “‘We deserve to win this game. We’ve outplayed them most of the game. We deserve to win. We’ve made some mistakes. But we deserve to win. … So wipe the frown off your face and let’s go.'”
Michigan State will now return home with a 6-2 record heading into Wednesday’s Big Ten opener at Minnesota. The Spartans own wins over North Carolina and Colorado. Their losses are to Kansas and Memphis on neutral courts. That’s a resume that compelled me to move Michigan State to No. 15 in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. It puts the Spartans behind the two teams that have beaten them (No. 1 Kansas, No. 14 Memphis) but ahead of the team they just beat (No. 16 North Carolina).
Kansas remains No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 for the 25th consecutive day to start this season. The Jayhawks are 6-0 with wins over Duke, Michigan State and North Carolina. Their next game is Saturday against Furman.
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Top 25 And 1 rankings
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12
Michigan St.
9
Gonzaga
