Why Nate Oats Still Wants More 3-Point Attempts from Aden Holloway

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—  Alabama guard Aden Holloway attempted 12 shots from beyond the arc in Saturday's win over Kentucky, his second-highest total of the season, but that's still not enough for head coach Nate Oats.

"I’m thinking of one in my head right now that he should’ve shot," Oats said during Monday's press conference.

Among Alabama's uninjured players, Holloway has the Crimson Tide's highest 3-point percentage at 41.9 percent on the season and over 47 percent in SEC play, which is good for second in the league. Oats has given the Auburn transfer free rein to take any open 3-point shot and wants him to shoot as many as possible.

"We need to get him more 3s," Oats said. "We need to get more open 3s. He needs to take more open 3s. He doesn’t miss hardly any. The more open shots we can get him, the better off our offense is gonna be."

Holloway was 5 of 12 from 3 against Kentucky and finished with 19 points. He has scored in double figures in 12 of Alabama's 14 SEC games. His best shooting performance of the season came against South Dakota State when he went 8-for-19 from beyond the arc and scored 26 points.

There's the perception that Oats teams live and die by the 3 because of how many shots it attempts, but that's not true. It's one of the shots he wants his team to take, but the highest-percentage shots are at the rim and at the free throw line. Alabama has won plenty of games with bad shooting nights, but if the team starts making 3s at a high clip, it makes this team really hard to beat.

Oats has made a recent change to Alabama's starting lineup, removing forward Jarin Stevenson and inserting freshman guard Labaron Philon, in an effort to get guys like Mark Sears and Chris Youngblood more open 3-point shots.

"The more open shots we can get Sears, Youngblood— same deal," Oats said. "It’s part of why we put Labaron in the starting lineup to try to get Sears off the ball a little more, try to get CY some open shots. 

“When we’ve got Sears and Holloway in there together, they can both create for each other. If Labaron’s in there, that obviously would help. But we want him to get as many open 3s as he can get.”

Holloway's next opportunity will come Tuesday night when No. 6 Alabama hosts No. 24 Mississippi State in Coleman Coliseum at 8 p.m. He was 3-for-7 from deep last time the Crimson Tide faced the Bulldogs in late January.