It wasn’t looking great for Donaldson after last season when he averaged 2.5 points in 10.6 minutes across 32 games and Auburn brought in Aden Holloway, the five-star freshman point guard. However, Donaldson has found himself a nice role off the bench, backing up Holloway and soon Pearl may realize he has to lean on his sophomore a bit more than his freshman.
Holloway has been productive in his 22.5 minutes averaging 10.5 points and 3.9 assists, but he’s doing it on 34% shooting from the field and 36.6% from three. 66.7% of Holloway’s shots have been threes and he’s only made 12 two-point field goals all year.
The 6-foot-1 freshman is shooting 29.2% from inside the arc. He doesn’t have many turnovers and shoots it well from outside, but SEC teams will get very physical with him and I expect Pearl to turn to Donaldson, who has been much more efficient.
Donaldson is averaging 7.5 points and 3.5 assists a night while shooting 50% from the field and 40% from three. With a few losses in the SEC, there may come a reckoning for Pearl and his 11-man rotation. He’ll need to play his best players more and Donaldson is one of his best players.
By the end of the year, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is playing more minutes than Holloway, but I don’t expect Holloway to be pulled from the starting lineup.