A new era of LSU basketball began on Wednesday night with a 74-63 win over Kansas City.
[autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] made his LSU debut, as did a slew of newcomers. [autotag]Mwani Wilkinson[/autotag] scored LSU’s first points of the year as LSU jumped out to a 9-2 lead.
From that point on, the Tigers hovered around a five-point lead for the rest of the half.
[autotag]Adam Miller[/autotag] made his long-awaited debut after transferring from Illinois in 2021. The guard was expected to be a top contributor on last year’s team before tearing his ACL in the preseason.
He was LSU’s leading scorer with 18 points.
In the spring, Miller being on the court for LSU was far from a sure thing. He had a smooth recovery, but upon Will Wade’s firing, Miller explored his options in the transfer portal. Miller returning to LSU was one of McMahon’s biggest gets as he’s set to feature in the offense.
Another Tiger making his debut was [autotag]KJ Williams[/autotag], who came with McMahon from Murray State. Williams is expected to be LSU’s top player in the front court and delivered in the opener with a double-double (13 points, 14 rebounds).
Starting 1-0 in the McMahon Era pic.twitter.com/Xw5db3UpVD
— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) November 10, 2022
It was a win, but it could have been a lot smoother. LSU had a few chances to pull away, but Kansas City hung around. LSU turned the ball over 15 times and committed 23 fouls.
The Tigers will have some growing pains, but that was expected. Very few of these guys have played with each other before and this is a sport where chemistry is of critical importance.
Given some time, McMahon’s track record and the level of talent he has to work with now, it figures this team will improve throughout the year. LSU will try to move to 2-0 on Saturday when the Tigers host Arkansas State.
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