Hollins was born in Arizona on November 8, 1991, and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in the sixth grade.[1] As a child, Hollins would practice basketball for hours, until his father forced him to stop playing.[2]
Hollins attended Germantown High School, where he lettered on the basketball team under head coach Newton Mealer. He averaged just under 16 points per game as a junior, playing alongside future Belmont signee Ian Clark, on a team that went 20–12. Hollins drew attention from college programs, including Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Georgia, Minnesota, Oregon State and the University of Memphis.[3] As a senior, he averaged 18.9 points per game, in leading Germantown to a 24–9 record. The team reached the Region 8-AAA quarterfinals, where they lost to the state champion Melrose High School. The Memphis Commercial Appeal named Hollins to the Best of the Preps Class AAA Team.[4] Despite sharing a last name, growing up in the same part of Tennessee, and wearing the same No. 20 jerseys in high school, Austin and Minnesota teammate Andre Hollins, are not related.[5]
College career
As a freshman at Minnesota, playing under head coach Tubby Smith, Hollins averaged 4.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.[6] He started five games and posted a 13-point performance against Indiana. After the team failed to receive an invitation to the 2011 NIT, Hollins considered transferring to another school.[1]
In his junior year, he became recognized for his stifling defense. "I take a lot of pride in that, and it's kind of fun, locking down another team's top guy ... you may not hold them to zero points, but just making it tough for them – it's fun," said Hollins.[7] In the 2013 NCAA tournament, Hollins contributed 16 points, four steals and a career-high seven assists, against UCLA in the Round of 64. He tallied 10 points and three rebounds, in the season-ending loss to Florida in the Round of 32.[4]
Hollins scored 20 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds, in a win over South Dakota State, in addition to eclipsing the 1,000 point mark for his college career. As a result, he was named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week, for the week of December 16, 2013.[8] In his senior year, head coach Richard Pitino referred to Hollins as, "a coach's dream", for his strong work ethic and lead-by-example style. Hollins endured a cold spell in the middle of the season, but regained his form towards the end of the regular season, as he scored 27 points in a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.[6] In the quarterfinals of the 2014 National Invitation Tournament, Hollins went 6–11 from behind the 3-point arc, and scored a career-high 32 points to help defeat Southern Miss. He scored 12 straight points in the first half to help Minnesota retake the lead.[9] Minnesota won the NIT by defeating SMU, by a score of 63–65, behind 19 points from Hollins. He made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 46.1 seconds remaining and he was named NIT Most Valuable Player.[10] During his college career, Hollins played in a school-record 140 games, breaking the record that was previously held by former teammate Rodney Williams.[6][9] He led the team in steals with 75 and finished second in scoring average, with an average of 12.4 points per game.[4]
Hollins wasn't drafted in the 2014 NBA draft. On August 2, 2014, he signed a one-year deal with Denain, of the French 2nd Division LNB Pro B.[11] In 35 games played with Denain in the 2014–15 season (regular season & playoffs), he averaged 8.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.7 assists per game, in France's 2nd Division. He also spent the 2015–16 season with Denain, in the French 2nd Division, in which he averaged 12.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game, in 34 games played.[12]
In 2017, he moved to the German League club Gießen 46ers. With the Gießen 46ers, he averaged 12.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game, in 29 games played in the 2017–18 German League season. In 2018, he moved to the German club Rasta Vechta. With Rasta Vechta, he averaged 16.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, in 40 games played in the 2018–19 German League season.
Kevin Burleson is an American professional basketball coach, and a former professional basketball player. He is currently the head coach of Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League.
Lionel Eugene Hollins is an American professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, Hollins played for the Portland Trail Blazers, winning an NBA championship in 1977 and named an NBA All-Star in 1978. The Trail Blazers retired his No. 14.
Darius Myron Washington Jr. is an American-Macedonian professional basketball player who last played for Peja of the Kosovo Superleague.
Tarence Anthony Kinsey is an American former professional basketball player. He played for the Memphis Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. He also played for several teams in Europe. He played college basketball for University of South Carolina.
Gary Neal is an American former basketball professional player and coach. He played college basketball at La Salle University and Towson University. He began his professional career abroad with teams in Turkey, Spain and Italy before signing with the San Antonio Spurs in 2010. He mostly played the shooting guard position.
Konstantine Demetrios "Kosta" Koufos is a Greek-American professional basketball player who is a free agent. He played one season at Ohio State before being selected by the Utah Jazz with the 23rd overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft.
Nicholas William Calathes is a Greek-American professional basketball player for AS Monaco of the French LNB Pro A and the EuroLeague. He is widely considered as one of the best point guards in EuroLeague history.
Joseph "Joby" Wright is an American former college and professional basketball player who was men's basketball head coach at Miami University and at the University of Wyoming. Married to Loretta Wright, August 18th 2017.
Ralph Lee Sampson III is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Alex Poythress is an American-born naturalized Ivorian professional basketball player who last played for Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He won the Gatorade Player of the Year in Tennessee in 2011–12 in his senior year of high school, and was the TSSAA Class AAA Mr. Basketball his senior year. He was a 5-star recruit out of Northeast High School in Clarksville, Tennessee, during 2011–12. He played college basketball for the University of Kentucky. Finished his career with 966 points, 597 rebounds and 77 blocks, becoming just the 12th player in program history with at least 900 points, at least 500 rebounds and at least 70 blocks.
Courtney Fortson is an American professional basketball player for Hunan Yongsheng of the National Basketball League. He played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Justin Lorenzo Dentmon is an American professional basketball player for Grises de Humacao of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for Washington. In 2010, he was the top scorer in the Israel Basketball Premier League.
Joffrey Lauvergne is a French professional basketball player for LDLC ASVEL of the French LNB Pro A and the EuroLeague. He was drafted 55th overall by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2013 NBA draft, who then traded his rights to the Denver Nuggets.
Rodney Williams, Jr. is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA Development League. Williams played college basketball for four years at the University of Minnesota and then went undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft. He is 6'7" and plays the small forward position.
Cameron Scott Jones is an American professional basketball player for Karhu Basket of the Korisliiga. He played college basketball for Northern Arizona University.
Thomas Ryan Walkup is an American-born naturalized Greek professional basketball player for Olympiacos of the Greek Basket League (GBL) and the EuroLeague. He also represents the Greek national team in international competition. Widely considered one of the premier defensive players in European basketball, he was named the EuroLeague Best Defender in 2024.
Isaiah Hartenstein is a German-American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Patricio Nicolas Garino Gullotta "Pato" is an Argentine professional basketball player who currently plays for Estudiantes of the LEB Oro. He played college basketball for George Washington University. He also represents the senior Argentina national team. He is a 2.01 m (6'7") tall shooting guard-small forward.
Jordan Bernard Murphy is a Puerto Rican-Virgin Islander professional basketball player for the Leones de Ponce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. He is the all-time Golden Gopher career rebound and career double-double leader. He ranks second in Big Ten Conference history in career rebounds. Following his college career he has had multiple stints with teams in the NBA G League and multiple stints with the Leones de Ponce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional.
Marcus Joshua Carr is a Canadian professional basketball player for Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He previously played college basketball for the Texas Longhorns of the Big 12 Conference, as well as the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
