Despite his excellence for three seasons, the collegiate career of Andre Hollins has arguably flown under the radar. He has been a heavy contributor at Minnesota since day one, topping the 20-point plateau five times as a freshman and leading the Gophers in scoring in both his sophomore and junior seasons. He even has an outside chance at cracking 2,000 points for his career if his team makes a deep run in the postseason this year. He’s played under two coaches utilizing vastly different systems, yet still managed to thrive. Last season was his most challenging in Minneapolis — after suffering an ankle injury, he came back too soon and proceeded to look like a shell of his former self. He went from averaging 16.2 PPG before the injury to 11.3 PPG in the 16 games afterward, and he just looked tentative and unsure of himself in February and March. Now in his second year under Richard Pitino, he is flanked by a core of experienced seniors. Can Hollins recapture his scoring touch and lead the Gophers back to the Big Dance?
Andre Hollins needs to regain his scoring touch if Minnesota wants to rise in the B1G standings. (Getty)
At his best, Hollins is a scorer who does most of his damage from the outside. He’s made quite a few three-pointers in his career, topping out at a superb 41.8 percent in his junior season from behind the arc. He also does a nice job getting to the free throw line, and converts when he’s there, with a career free throw percentage of 84.4 percent. For someone that gets so much of his scoring output from the outside, he still managed to rank ninth in the league in free throw rate, getting to the charity stripe at a 49.7 percent clip. He’s capable of playing both guard spots, as he led the team in assists (3.4 APG) as the primary facilitator in 2012-13. When Deandre Mathieu took over the point guard duties last season, Hollins played off the ball where he was able to get quality looks on kickouts from the speedy Mathieu. The Gophers’ backcourt tandem might be the best in the league this season, and it will need to be if Minnesota hopes to avoid another trip to the NIT.
It will also be worth monitoring how Pitino chooses to replace Austin Hollins. The other Hollins was the best perimeter defender on the Gophers’ roster, an athletic wing who took care of many of the intangibles that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. The team must also replace bit players Malik Smith, Oto Osenieks, and Maverick Ahanmisi. Stretch four Joey King, and the two-headed monster of Elliott Eliason and Maurice Walker all return. Pitino almost never played Eliason and Walker at the same time, so that means a probable starting lineup will include four of Andre Hollins, Mathieu, King, and Eliason or Walker. Junior college transfer Carlos Morris is roughly the same size as Austin Hollins, so he may get the first chance at that fifth spot. Freshmen Josh Martin and Nate Mason also could crack the rotation, if necessary. With so much experience on the roster and a greater comfort level with Pitino’s coaching style, the Gophers should have a good chance to finish among the top five of the league and make the NCAA Tournament. That outcome will largely depend on whether Hollins can return to the player he was before last year’s injury. There just aren’t many pure shooters/scorers who are as efficient as he when he shoots the ball, and his production makes the Minnesota offense hum.