Aden Holloway arrest: Nate Oats updates Alabama guard's NCAA Tournament status at team practice

Ahead of Alabama‘s NCAA Tournament opener on Friday against Hofstra, coach Nate Oats has addressed star guard Aden Holloway‘s status once more. There’s no real change.

Holloway, who was arrested during a Monday morning raid and found to be in possession of more than two pounds of marijuana, has been removed from campus. He’s currently away from the team as the student affairs process is sorted through.

“I’m not sure where that’s all gonna go,” Oats said to reporters in attendance. “We’ll kind of address things as they come up. For right now, the team is preparing to play with who’s at practice, and he’s obviously not there. We’ll prepare to play without him.”

Holloway is the team’s second-leading scorer this season, averaging 16.8 points per game. He also chips in 3.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds per contest.

He’ll be sorely missed if he’s not cleared ahead of Friday’s showdown. Alabama is hoping for another deep dance in the NCAA Tournament after reaching the Elite Eight last season.

More on Aden Holloway’s arrest

Agents from the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force arrested and charged Holloway with two felony charges of first-degree possession of marijuana and failing to affix a tax stamp after serving a search warrant on his Tuscaloosa residence at 8:45 a.m. CT on Monday. Police reportedly found loose marijuana, a vacuum-sealed bag of marijuana, a rolling tray, and packaging material, according to the deposition and charge sheet obtained by AL.com. Holloway was later released on a $5,000 bond.

“Holloway stated that he wanted to remain silent, but then stated that he only smokes,” a West Alabama Narcotics Task Force agent wrote in the charging sheet reviewed by AL.com.

During a Monday evening appearance on his coaching show, Alabama head men’s basketball coach Nate Oats confirmed Aden Holloway’s suspension. This came after the university released its own statement earlier Monday.

“We’ve got standards in our program,” Oats said on his Hey Coach radio show Monday night. “We’ve got ways we hold our guys accountable and we try to keep everything in-house. Obviously, some of the situations, you can’t and this is one of those. This situation is a little different when we found out what was going on this morning. I found out this morning. I guess it all went down this morning. So, we had to suspend him, pending the investigation from the UA Office of Student Conduct. We’re certainly disappointed in his behavior.”

Given his suspension, Aden Holloway likely won’t be available to participate in Alabama’s first-round NCAA Tournament game. The Tide face 13-seeded Hofstra at 3:15 p.m. ET on Friday in Tampa.

On3’s Alex Byington also contributed to this report.