Aden Holloway had a hard year at Auburn last season. The guard, now with Alabama basketball, shot just 31.8% from the field for the Tigers, 30.2% from three.

Nothing seemed to be going right for the then-freshman.

“Last year was just abnormal for me,” Holloway told reporters Tuesday in Tuscaloosa. “I feel like it was just completely downhill and it was tough getting back up.”

But the 6-foot-1, 180-pound sophomore did find his way back. Tuesday night against Vanderbilt, he led Alabama in scoring, putting up 22 points off the bench in Coleman Coliseum during the Crimson Tide’s 103-87 win.

Furthermore, he made eight of his 11 field goal attempts, and went 4-for-6 from three. It’s the highest point yet on a season-long trend upward.

“This year, my coaches, they put a lot of confidence in me,” Holloway said. “Teammates put a lot of confidence in me. So it just goes hand-in-hand. Super appreciative of all of them, so I would just say it feel a little, just normal. More normal, to get back to playing at a higher level.”

Through 18 games, Holloway is averaging 46.9% from the field. His three-point percentage has taken a large jump as well, up to 39.8%.

The Charlotte native has become a reliable option for the Crimson Tide. After Tuesday’s win, which moved UA to 16-3 on the season, 5-1 in SEC play, Alabama head coach Nate Oats said Holloway didn’t have anything wrong with his shooting mechanics when he came to Tuscaloosa from Auburn.

Oats hypothesized that the improvement could be due, in part, to opposing defenses keying off of Holloway’s fellow Alabama guard, Mark Sears.

“He’s been able to be a little more free,” Oats said. “But the mechanics have been great all the time. I do think he needed to get his confidence up. He needed to get comfortable in our system. How aggressive do I want him to be? I can’t get him aggressive enough to be honest with you. What kind of threes do I want him to take? I want him to take every single one that’s open.”

Oats also said he was excited to see what Holloway could do as the Crimson Tide moves further into SEC play. Alabama faces LSU in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

“He’s playing really hard,” Oats said. “I think when you play really hard and give an effort like that, and you’ve got the skill, you put a lot of time into your skill level, I think things go your way. And I think things are going his way right now and I’m super happy for him.”