SLAM 146: Tu Holloway is about to bubble.
Originally published in SLAM 146
by Eddie Maisonet, III
24,435.
That number would be the amount of jump shots Xavier guard Terrell “Tu” Holloway put up in the summer of 2010. He’s proud of it, and rightly, because he should be. “He’s one of the hardest working guys we have,” says XU forward Andy Taylor. “As a team, we’re glad to have him as our point guard.”
For someone who already contributed to one of the most memorable games in recent March Madness history, Holloway is hard at work to become an even better
basketball player. He has good reason to improve; his former partner-in-crime, Jordan Crawford, is now battling for minutes in the Atlanta Hawks’ backcourt. The epic battle that ensued between Xavier and Kansas State in the Sweet 16 resulted in both teams scoring in triple-digits, and two dynamic duos (K-State’s Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente versus Crawford and Holloway) trading haymakers for six periods of action, causing Gus Johnson to nearly have an aneurysm while calling the game.
Tu’s game (Holloway says he had the nickname “Tu-Tu” when he was 4 and it was shortened to just “Tu” when he was at Hempstead High School on Long Island) has evolved out of necessity. Due to the departure of Crawford and Jason Love, the ineligibility of incoming freshman Justin Martin and the season-ending injury to Brad Redford, Xavier head coach Chris Mack is essentially asking Holloway to be a jack of all trades. Holloway leads the Muskies by averaging 20.1 points and 5.2 assists, and is second on the team in three-pointers made.
Shorthanded or not, Coach Mack will be counting on Tu’s ability to lead this young team to success, as fans in the Queen City are hopeful to see the Muskies win their fifth consecutive A-10 regular season championship. “I’ve been the point guard of this team since I was a freshman,” Holloway says. “I’m ready to be more vocal and be the leader of this team 100 percent of the time.”
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