Every top team needs a Shay Holle; Texas women's basketball is lucky to have her | Golden

Last semester, Shay Holle decided to do a video documenting her journey from her days as an Austin toddler donning Longhorns cheerleading outfits up to the preseason of her fourth year on campus.

The course was Communicating for Careers at the McCombs School of Business, and Texas basketball’s 22-year-old senior guard was part of a talented classroom that included men’s newcomers Kadin Shedrick and Max Abmas.

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“I wanted to tell my story from growing up a Longhorn fan with my whole background, my family and everything,” Holle said.

Holle’s story is one of service. She’s not a diva or even a demonstrative celebrator of great plays. To the contrary, she punches that hoops clock and does the work, rarely changing expression. In college circles, they’re called program players: experienced types who embody what the head coach is trying to get across on the court in the locker room. The good teams have a couple. The great teams have several more.

A program player is rarely the best on the team, but they’re the ones who play the steadiest brand of ball, often under the radar with contributions that rarely go unnoticed by the people who appreciate the game.

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Holle is the ultimate program player and a lover of the University of Texas from the crib. Her father Eric Holle, an LBJ High grad, was an All-Southwest Conference defensive end for those good Fred Akers-coached teams in the early 1980s before playing 56 games over four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. Mom Michelle played softball at Angelo State.

A win tailor-made for Shay Holle

Saturday’s 81-60 home win over a young but game Iowa State team was a Shay Holle special. She filled up the stat sheet like a 24-ounce porterhouse fills up a plate. Always tasked with defending the other team’s best guard, she took care her business with three steals on that end but chipped in 16 points and six assists as the No. 5 Horns crept to within one game of first-place Oklahoma in the Big 12, earning coach Vic Schaefer his 100th win in Austin.

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Holle is the type of player every coach should recruit because she doesn’t take plays off. A two-way performer who prioritizes defense in the same manner as Texas exes Leta Whaley, Beverly Williams, Hattie Browning, Angie Ogletree and Kala Bowers, Holle works with group-think passion. She’s about what’s best for the Longhorns, and it’s been that way from the moment she arrived on campus.

You can count Schaefer's Iowa State counterpart Bill Fennelly as one who is in love with Holle’s all-around and on-court demeanor. Fennelly, in his 30th season in Ames, has seen his share of good two-way players and Holle is one of his favorites.

"I am a huge, huge Shay Holle fan,” Fennelly said. "I could be president of the fan club. She's a kid that has always done exactly what they needed when they needed it. She's been the consummate role player but that team, and what I've seen over the years, is not as good as they could be without her.”

Holle earned this spot, but wanted it for a long time

Holle always wanted to be on the same campus her dad had walked four decades ago. She committed to the Horns and then-coach Karen Aston as a junior — one year before earning the American-Statesman’s Central Texas player of the year award as a star guard at Westlake — but then UT dismissed Aston and hired Schaefer to replace her.

Holle not only entered college under a new coach, but like the rest of us, was figuring out how to return to civilization after COVID-19 shut down the planet.

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Schaefer told her that offseason that he needed her to prioritize defense and rebounding. And a couple of layups with that sprinter’s speed on the break wouldn’t hurt, he added.

After averaging 7.5 minutes her first season, Holle doubled her workload in 2022, though not without some early heartache. She still remembers that massive 61-56 win at No. 2 Stanford as if it were yesterday. It was the team’s fourth straight win to start the season and 10 players saw action that afternoon.

Holle wasn’t one of them.

Disappointed but undaunted, she kept her head up and her chin down. Schaefer is a fluid coach who makes decisions based on the effort he sees in practice, particularly on the defensive end. At that time, Holle wasn’t anywhere near the player we’re seeing today, but Schaefer admired her scrappy nature and loved her penchant for getting her hands on loose balls on defense alone with the innate ability to stay in front of some of the conference’s toughest guards.

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After three straight losses — including two to archival Baylor in a span of three days —  Schaefer shook up the lineup, giving Holle her first career start at Texas Tech. The Horns took off from there, winning 13 straight games, including the Big 12 tournament title and three games in the NCAA tourney.

By season’s end, Holle’s story had come full circle.

“After not touching the court at Stanford, we played them again in the Elite Eight and I was starting,” she said. “It’s all about being ready for your name to be called and staying the course and like (Schaefer) says, staying in the picture.”

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Making her point with defense

Holle started out as a defensive specialist and she still draws the tough perimeter assignment each night, but over these last two seasons, she has added to her bag.

Her field goal percentage is way up from .410 last season to .497, partly because she she’s averaging only 2.2 3-point attempts per game, down from 2.5 as she has put in more work on her midrange game. She’s also driving more to the bucket and setting up teammates with an improved court vision.

The 52 assists through 27 games is a huge deal with All-American point guard Rori Harmon out for the season with a knee injury. She’s well ahead of the pace from last season where she dished out 58 in 36 games. The free-throw line is an adventure — she has made only 21 of 37 so far — but the strides in all other areas are noticeable.

Vic Schaefer: 'Shay's the glue to our team'

Schaefer always says the game will reward those who put in the time needed to get better, and Holle is the latest example.

“I said even when Rori was healthy that Shay's the glue to our team,” Schaefer said. “She’s started for me, she's come off the bench and in each role, she's just always excelled just like she's excelled in the McCombs School of Business. That's just the kind of kid she is. Whatever the role is, she just wants to win.”

While it will be one tough Final Four party to crash with South Carolina, Stanford, Ohio State, Colorado and others playing well, Holle is one of several reasons the 24-3 Horns, who host Texas Tech on Wednesday, can make a legitimate run in March.

She’s part of the old guard on this roster, and in today’s game, old guards are an advantage, especially if paired with a star on the rise like high scoring freshman Madison Booker, who doesn’t hesitate to pass it off to Holle or Shaylee Gonzales, proven vets who aren’t shying away from the big moments.

Holle is delivering in her senior year and bringing those locker-room intangibles that are so important on any team with title aspirations. Plus, she always shows up ready to put in a full day’s work, having played at least 39 minutes in six of the last seven games. She has gone wire to wire in eight Big 12 contests.

“If people don't vote for her as an all-conference player, then they're making a mistake,” Fennelly said. "Us coaches, we all talk about impact and winning, and the impact for success. I think Shay Holle defines that in many ways.”

As for that fan club Fennelly mentioned …

It’s growing by the second.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Shay Holle is Texas women's basketball's best two-way example