Tre Holloman walked back into a Michigan State setting on Tuesday night and found something closer to a welcome party than a reckoning.
The former Spartan, who had just spent time with the Orlando Magic in the NBA Summer League, appeared at the Moneyball Pro-Am at Holt High School and immediately drew a crowd. Fans stopped him on the gym steps for photos and autographs before he even made it halfway down.
It was a different scene from the one that followed Holloman after he left Michigan State and transferred to NC State. He had been expected to play a major role for the Spartans, especially after a 2024-25 season that included pushing two Michigan players off the center-court logo during senior night and an emotional response to Michigan State’s Elite Eight loss to Auburn. Even with a starting spot waiting, he entered the portal and shocked plenty of people.
“It’s been challenging,” Holloman said Tuesday. “I went somewhere to do something that I’ve always done, and my plans changed.
Things have changed. I just had to battle it out, and my season went how it went.
It wasn’t terrible, but I feel like I could’ve done stuff better, but that’s just life.”
The move did not bring the kind of leap he may have wanted. Holloman played only 2.5 more minutes per game as a senior at NC State than he had as a junior at Michigan State.
His shot attempts dropped by 1.4 per game, and his scoring barely moved, from 9.1 points per game to 9.2. The Wolfpack also went out in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan State, meanwhile, had to patch together the backcourt without him. The Spartans’ lack of steady two-guard play was one of their biggest issues, even though Tom Izzo had Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr, Jaxon Kohler, and Carson Cooper starting every game at the other spots. MSU ended up using four different starters at shooting guard and never really settled on one answer, yet still reached the Sweet 16.
That leaves the obvious question: would Holloman change anything if he could do it over?
“No comment,” he said.
Izzo had already hinted in late March, on local sportscaster Tim Staudt’s radio show, that one former player had been texting him about regretting the decision to leave Michigan State. Xavier Booker and Gehrig Normand also entered the portal last offseason, and both exits seemed more straightforward. Izzo never named the player, but the reference pointed pretty clearly to Holloman.
Holloman said he did not text Izzo during the season, noting that would probably be an NCAA issue, but he “definitely” reached out after his NC State season ended.
The reaction to his transfer wasn’t always friendly. Holloman said people outside the program didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes.
“They never were in those meetings with me and Coach [Izzo] or me and my teammates,” Holloman said. “I just thought it was funny, but then sometimes it’s been like, ‘Dang, man.
Just stop. Stop worrying about me.
That stuff happened; just move on.’”
For now, he is still waiting on another possible season of eligibility. A number of outgoing seniors, including Kohler, are pursuing legal action after the NCAA left them out of its newly adopted “5-in-5” eligibility rules. Holloman believes he may get that extra year, and if he does, he is open to coming back to Michigan State.
“If they have good plans,” Holloman said. “They are guard-heavy right now, but if they welcome me and if it sounds good, yeah, I wouldn’t mind coming back.”
Any return would have to fit into a crowded backcourt. Fears, Carlos Medlock Jr., Jasiah Jervis, Kur Teng, and Jordan Scott are all in the mix, and the timing could make things even trickier. If both Kohler and Holloman were options, Kohler would likely be the higher priority.
Still, the night in Holt made one thing obvious: there’s no bad blood with his old teammates. Carr and Fears both spoke warmly about him, and the hallway near the gym was filled with shouts of “Tre!”
and “Jiggy!” when he arrived.
“It doesn't matter if he left or anything; it doesn't matter where he's at, what we're doing, how long we haven't seen each other, but it's always going to be happy feelings seeing him, my brother...” Carr said.
“At the end of the day, he made it to the Elite Eight here, won the Big Ten championship here, Sweet 16 freshman year. He's won a lot of games here.
Obviously, he's done a lot here, so in my opinion, he should get a warm welcome.”
“Everybody has a plan and a path, so you can't really get mad at someone for doing their own thing or going their own way,” Fears said. “At the end of the day, I'm happy he was able to make history here with us.
His name will forever be by the Magic Johnson statue in that Big Ten Championship [plaque] with us. He'll forever have a ring, and he's got banners up there.
He did something here, so I'm just happy to be a part of that with him.”
There were no boos, no popcorn, and no scene. Holloman played for Team Faygo with rising sophomore Cam Ward and Jervis, then lost in overtime to Team Tri-Star Trust, which featured Carr and redshirt freshman Jesse McCulloch.
He stayed after to sign more autographs, wearing a T-shirt with him and the rest of the 2024-25 Michigan State roster on it. In the end, his night at Holt began and ended the same way: with fans around him, phone in one hand and Sharpie in the other.
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