Holloman knows his role with Michigan State and helps the Spartans win without flashy statistics

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Tre Holloman isn’t the star player on the Michigan State roster.

He isn’t a starter. He’s averaging fewer than 10 points and hasn’t reached double figures in assists or rebounds in a game this season.

At 6-foot-2, he’s not going to dominate the post. And, he is a 34.3% shooter from the 3-point line.

He just wins games.

In Michigan State’s last five games - the regular-season finale against Michigan, two Big Ten tournament games and two NCAA Tournament wins - he’s averaging 12.8 points, hitting 47.6% of his 3-pointers and averaging three assists to one turnover.

His biggest moment in that stretch came during a stoppage in play.

For the last 30 years, Spartans seniors have made a tradition of kissing the center-court logo as they leave the floor for the final time. Shawn Respert started it on Senior Day in 1995, at the end of a record-setting career, and Mateen Cleaves brought it back into the spotlight during the NCAA championship season of 2000.

On March 9, though, Michigan’s Phat Phat Brooks and L.J. Cason stood on the logo in the final minute of Michigan State’s 79-62 win, trying to ruin the moment.

Holloman and Jaden Akins asked them to move, and when they refused, Holloman moved them himself. That triggered a minor shoving match, with Holloman and Cason picking up technical fouls.

Holloman, who finished with 20 points, did his job and the seniors were able to complete the ritual.

"I was just trying to do the best thing for my seniors and let them get their moment," he said. "Coach told me that we needed me for the Big Ten tournament, so I couldn’t lash out, but I wanted to protect the tradition."

Spartans coach Tom Izzo praised Holloman for protecting a tradition that has spread beyond the men’s basketball team.

"Shawn started it and Mateen took it over, and now it is something our hockey team, our women’s (basketball) team and our softball team and our baseball team … that’s who we are and I’m damn proud of it," Izzo said. “We have to make sure we handle ourselves right, but that’s what rivalries are all about.

"If everyone is hugging and kissing out there, it probably isn’t a rivalry."

Holloman wasn’t spectacular in the Big Ten tournament, scoring six points in a win over Oregon and 10 in a loss to Wisconsin, but he has come alive in the NCAA Tournament. He has scored 14 points in each game - a 87-62 win over Bryant and a 71-63 victory against New Mexico - and he’s making big plays. He’s a combined 6 for 10 on 3-pointers and has eight assists without a turnover.

"We started out slow, so I was trying to bring some juice off the bench with my shooting and defense," Holloman said after adding three steals and a block against New Mexico. "I’m trying to be a leader and a point guard and just play hard for my teammates."

That’s the role Izzo has wanted Holloman to embrace since moving him from the starting lineup to the sixth-man slot in February.

"He’s a starter for us, he’s just the sixth starter," Izzo said. "He’s just as valuable to us in a lot of ways. It helps our rotation the way we did it - it has nothing to do with his skill."

A win against Ole Miss on Friday will put Michigan State into the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010, but it could mean so much more. With a victory, the Spartans will get a chance to watch Friday’s second game in Atlanta, with Auburn taking on Michigan.

A Wolverines victory would set up the first NCAA Tournament meeting between Michigan and Michigan State and it would happen with a Final Four berth on the line.

The Wolverines and Spartans each have NCAA championship banners in their gyms, but that game would be as big as any they’ve played in a long time.