AMHERST — It’s been 307 days since Rashaan Holloway last stepped on the court for UMass.
The fifth-year senior was sidelined for the second half of last season for academic reasons and then was held out of the Minutemen’s two scrimmages as a precaution. UMass has seven players scheduled to make their official debut with the Minutemen on Tuesday when they host UMass-Lowell in the opener at the Mullins Center.
And then there’s Holloway, who hasn’t played a competitive game since Jan. 3, when he scored 13 points and secured 10 rebounds in an overtime loss to George Mason. This year provides Holloway a second chance at college basketball, one he plans to utilize to the fullest.
“I’m just getting ready to come out there and show everybody – everybody knows what I can do – but I just need to go out there and prove that I got better and prove that I was missed out there on the court,” Holloway said. “I’m excited, but I’m not trying to get too overwhelmed. I know it’s the same basketball. It’s not about me, it’s a new beginning (for everyone).”
Holloway adds a different dimension to UMass on both ends of the floor with his tremendous size advantage. The 6-foot-11, 310-pound center is a load to deal with on offense and his mere presence helps open the floor for the plethora of shooters UMass has on the squad. He is the Minutemen’s only true post player.
“There’s no stopping him,” junior Luwane Pipkins said. “Most teams are going to have to double, and once you double, he can kick out to shooters. We have shooters all around the floor, so once teams go in the double, Rashaan kicks the ball out. He’s just a big impact on our team, both defensively and offensively, we just need to get him rolling.”
UMass coach Matt McCall has been around several other dominant big men during his coaching career, most notably Al Horford and Joakim Noah while he was an assistant at Florida. Whereas both of those players were physically strong and dominant on the interior, McCall said Holloway is “one of the more unique players” he has ever coached.
That holds especially true on offense. Holloway is at his best when he receives the ball in the paint in a one-on-one matchup.
“He’s definitely the biggest, … but he’s different from those guys,” McCall said referring to Horford and Noah. “I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a player where if he catches the ball with two feet in the paint, he’s essentially unguardable or he’s going to get fouled as long as he keeps the ball high and doesn’t allow teams from slapping it out of his hands.”
But McCall’s focus has been on improving UMass’ defense with an emphasis on addressing the lack of urgency he witnessed in last week’s exhibition against Westfield State. That is an area in which Holloway could prove useful because of his wealth of experience. McCall said the big man has improved his pick-and-roll defense and his size helps cramp the space in the paint to keep opponents away from the basket.
Most importantly, he opens up lines of communication on defense, something the Minutemen struggled with during the exhibition game.
“He knows what to call, he knows what coverage to get into,” McCall said. “You have to account for him at all times. He’s a fifth-year senior who’s played a lot of games, so it will be nice to finally play him against someone else.”
The expectations for Holloway, though, should be fairly low as he eases back into playing games for UMass. He said he’s still working on his conditioning, but he has added to his skill set to make him a more dynamic player on the court.
McCall said he just wants Holloway to focus on the big picture and enjoy himself in his final season of college basketball.
“I don’t want him to worry about anything other than going out and playing really, really hard,” McCall said. “He’s had a good two weeks of practice here, he’s ready to play. This is why he worked so hard in the spring was for this opportunity right here to come back and play his senior year of college basketball. It would have been easy for him to just walk away, and he didn’t do that. He really buckled down and did what he was supposed to do to afford himself this opportunity.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.