Alabama Braces for NCAA Opener Without Aden Holloway After Felony Marijuana Arrest, Campus Removal

Alabama is preparing for its NCAA tournament opener without one of its top scorers after guard Aden Holloway was arrested Monday morning and later removed from campus while the university performs a student conduct investigation.

Holloway, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, was arrested after agents with the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force searched a residence near Alabama’s campus and recovered more than a pound of marijuana, paraphernalia and cash according to Tuscaloosa County police spokesperson Stephanie Taylor.

Police said Holloway faces two felony charges: first-degree possession of marijuana not for personal use (a Class C felony) and failure to affix a tax stamp (also a felony). His bond was set at $5,000, and he was released from jail at 10:45 a.m. local time. Under Alabama law, the possession charge can carry a penalty of up to 10 years in jail and a $15,000 fine.

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The University of Alabama said Monday afternoon it was “working to gather more information” and that Holloway “has been removed from campus pending further investigation by the UA Office of Student Conduct.”

Alabama coach Nate Oats said the program has moved quickly into “play without him” mode ahead of Friday’s first-round game against Hofstra in Tampa, Florida. Holloway was removed from campus”and not with the team four days before the opener, a team spokesperson said.

“We got standards in our program and we’ve got ways we’ve held our guys accountable. And we try to keep everything in-house, obviously some of the situations you can’t, and this is one of those,” Oats said on his radio show Monday night. “We found out about what was going on this morning, I found out this morning. I guess it all went down this morning. And we had to suspend him pending the investigation. …”

Oats added: “We’re certainly disappointed in his behavior. But that being said, we still love him, he’s still our guy. We’re helping him get the help that he needs and we’re going to continue to help him whatever way we can. But as far as our team goes, I thought we had a great practice, we’re preparing to play without him this weekend.”

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On the court, Holloway has been a major piece of Alabama’s offense this season. He is the Crimson Tide’s second-leading scorer at 16.8 points per game and has made 44% of his 3-point attempts. Alabama owns the No. 3 offense in the country and earned a No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region.

Holloway’s absence changes the rotation immediately. Oats pointed to the need to keep the group moving forward while acknowledging the personal side of the moment. “While at the same time, Aden is one of our guys and everybody wants to wrap their arms around and love him,” Oats said. “Everybody makes mistakes in life, but they also understand, we’ve got to move on and we’ve got a whole other group of guys and the team’s got to go play Friday. I thought we did a good job of that this morning, kind of addressing the situation.”

Oats also said: “I did tell our team, this team — more than any team I’ve ever coached — is better equipped to handle a situation like this. We’ve won plenty of games with guys not available.”

Holloway most recently scored 18 points in Alabama’s loss to Ole Miss in the opening round of the SEC tournament. Now the Crimson Tide’s bracket path begins with a new variable — one that has nothing to do with scouting reports and everything to do with availability.

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