Bigger role on tap for CCU freshman Holmes

Coastal Carolina basketball coach Cliff Ellis is awaiting further test results and a final opinion from the doctors, but he’s already preparing for a significant change to the rotation he had in mind for his team this season.

Senior forward Michel Enanga missed the Chanticleers’ last game with an unspecified knee injury, and Ellis was concerned enough about the key reserve’s status for the rest of the season that he opted to burn freshman Kevin Holmes Jr.’s redshirt option for this year.

Holmes played 14 minutes in the team’s 98-73 win over North Carolina Wesleyan last Wednesday, tallying seven points and five rebounds in his collegiate debut, and the Chants will continue to count on the 6-foot-9 rookie as they head into a tough three-game stretch this week starting on the road at Wofford on Monday night.

“He’s long, he’s got length, he’s learning the game,” Ellis said of Holmes. “It’s not the way we wanted [to do it]. I call it baptizing. You want a freshman to learn [at a comfortable pace], but he has no choice. He has to do it. That’s why we brought him here. We’ll have to live through some mistakes, but it’s the role of the dice. We did not count on Michel being in this situation.”

Enanga, who has been a regular for the Chants since his freshman season while playing in 105 career games with 27 starts, was expected to be one of the team’s top options off the bench again this season.

He was averaging 17.8 minutes through the first eight games, but his knee continues to limit him and Ellis wasn’t very optimistic the situation was going to improve any time soon.

“It’s not good. He’s going to meet with the doctors early [this] week and we’ll make a decision as to whether he will be able to go after the Wofford game, but it’s not looking good,” Ellis said.

The original plan was for Holmes to sit out this season, take a redshirt and have four years of eligibility remaining, and it was the day before that game against North Carolina Wesleyan that Ellis informed him the plans had changed.

For his part, Holmes said he was actually excited to hear that he’d be making his debut far earlier than expected.

“He told me I would have to come in and help the team out. I mean, I was really happy with the decision actually, just to get back on the court and actually play, it was a great experience,” he said.

“[I was] a little bit nervous, but as the game went on I started to get more comfortable with the plays. A little intimidated, but I got through it. I felt like I had a good game.”

Holmes was 3-for-6 from the field with all three misses coming from 3-point range.

With his 6-foot-9 frame, he’s the Chants’ tallest player and offers the team some much-needed size inside while also having the versatility to shoot from the perimeter. How he develops and progresses will determine what kind of a role he can establish, but if Enanga is indeed unavailable the rest of the way the Chants would have only senior Marcus Freeman as a proven frontcourt reserve.

Holmes says he’s ready to contribute.

“[With] the redshirt, I was looking at being freshman of the year in the Sun Belt [next season]. I had all these goals for school and all that stuff and bam, it just hit me that I was going to end up playing right away,” he said. “It took me by surprise, [but] I’m ready for it. I’m ready to play.”

The Chants (5-4), meanwhile, are looking to build on back-to-back wins over Big South foe Radford and Division III North Carolina Wesleyan as they run a gantlet of sorts this week.

Wofford comes into the game Monday night with a 3-5 record, with four of those losses coming to Missouri, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Clemson. The Terriers were 28-7 last season and, like Coastal Carolina, have reached the NCAA tournament each of the last two years.

They are balanced offensively this season with senior guard Spencer Collins leading the way at 14.0 points per game.

“Wofford is very similar to us,” Ellis said. “They’ve played a tough schedule. Don’t look at their record; look at their schedule and who they’ve played. They’ve been like us. They’ve gone to the NCAA tournament. They’ve played tough people tough and Mike Young does a great job. They’re always [a] well coached, smart, tough, heady team.”

From there, the Chants head to Wake Forest on Friday and on Sunday host an Alabama State team that beat Virginia Tech earlier this season.

“It’s just a grind,” Ellis said. “We’ve just got to focus on who we are, what we do and try to get better.”

This story was originally published December 13, 2015 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Bigger role on tap for CCU freshman Holmes."