Report: Auburn's Aden Holloway Enters CBB Transfer Portal; Former 5-Star Recruit

Auburn freshman Aden Holloway is entering the NCAA transfer portal, per Travis Branham of 247Sports.

Heading into the 2023-24 season, Holloway was a five-star prospect ranked top-20 in the nation by 247Sports.

He finished his freshman season having averaged 7.3 points, 2.7 assists and 1.5 rebounds in 35 games, earning him a bid to the SEC All-Freshman team despite his struggles from behind the arc.

Holloway was a member of Auburn's starting five in all three conference tournament victories on the Tigers' way to the SEC Championship title.

His departure is another blow for the Auburn backcourt after guards K.D. Johnson and Tre Donaldson entered the portal.

Other schools including Miami, Tennessee and Wake Forest were recruiting Holloway before his commitment to Auburn, per 247Sports.

Now Holloway could potentially reconsider Wake Forest, which is located closer to his hometown of Matthews, North Carolina.

Holloway was a reliable ball-handler during his first college season, ranking fourth in the conference with a 3.03 assist-to-turnover ratio, per College Basketball Analytics (h/t Richard Silva of the Montgomery Advertiser.)

He was far less consistent, however, when shooting from behind the arc. The point guard went 11 games over the season without a single 3-pointer, despite regular opportunities in Auburn's starting five.

Holloway started spending pre-game warmups working specifically on shooting 3-pointers, per AL.com's Matt Cohen.

The effort paid off. After returning to Auburn's starting lineup with nine games remaining in the season, Holloway shot 33.3 percent from behind the arc.

"It was definitely a good feeling, just being able to see the ball go in the basket, especially after going through something like that," Holloway said after recording 15 points in a regular-season win over Georgia during this final stretch, per Henry Patton of AuburnSports. "I've never experienced that ever in my basketball career. Just a little adversity this year."

Holloway ended his first college season with an 0-for-5 effort from deep in Auburn's first-round NCAA tournament upset by Yale.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl had expressed confidence in Holloway's ability to develop his shot, praising the freshman's shot selection and defensive responsibility during his shooting slumps, Cohen reported.

With Holloway having departed for the transfer portal, Pearl will have to turn his attention to developing another young guard instead. Tahaad Pettiford, ranked as the top point guard of the 2024 recruiting class by 247Sports, signed with Auburn in November.