Tag: Matt McMahon

LSU basketball hosted top 40 point guard for visit Tuesday

The Tigers are still looking for their first commitment in the 2025 cycle.

LSU men’s basketball coach [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] is still looking to add the first commitment in his 2025 recruiting class, but it may be making progress toward that goal after a Tuesday visit with one of the cycle’s top prospects.

[autotag]Nyk Lewis[/autotag], a four-star Washington, D.C., prospect who ranks as the No. 38 player and No. 5 point guard nationally, is wrapping up his trip to Baton Rouge, and it seems LSU may have made an impression on the coveted prospect.

He previously visited Xavier last week, and he has upcoming visits set for Seton Hall and Michigan, which will take place later this month and in August, respectively.

High school recruiting has been a strength for McMahon so far, and he landed the No. 15 class in the 2024 cycle. While he has no commits right now, Lewis would be a nice start.

There are currently no crystal ball predictions to land him or clear favorites per the On3 recruiting prediction machine, though Xavier holds a slight lead.

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Top 50 recruit, LSU basketball target to announce commitment on Friday

Four-star 2025 forward Tylis Jordan will make a decision on Friday.

Coach [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] and LSU men’s basketball is still looking to add the first commitment in its 2025 class, but it could be in contention to land one of the best players in the entire cycle.

[autotag]Tylis Jordan[/autotag], a four-star forward from Snellville, Georgia, is set to announce his commitment date on Friday, according to On3’s Joe Tipton. Jordan, who stands at 6-foot-9 ranks as the No. 43 player and No. 10 power forward in the 2025 class.

Jordan hasn’t named his finalists, but he’s so far taken official visits to six schools: LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia Tech, Auburn and Ole Miss. The Rebels are currently the heavy favorite to land him according to the On3 recruiting prediction machine, as well as a pair of crystal balls from 247Sports placed on Wednesday.

It seems LSU has some ground to make up here, but it will hope for a surprise when Jordan announces his decision.

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Star Illinois basketball transfer Coleman Hawkins cancels LSU visit, commits to Kansas State

The Tigers were expected to host the coveted transfer this weekend, but there’s been a change of plans.

LSU was hoping to hold a visit with the top available player in the transfer portal, but it seems that won’t come to pass.

[autotag]Coleman Hawkins[/autotag], a transfer from Illinois who was also testing the NBA draft waters, was slated to take a visit to Baton Rouge following his trip to Kansas State. However, he canceled that trip on Friday, and shortly after, he announced his commitment to the Wildcats.

Hawkins enters his fifth season of college basketball after starting 82 of the 126 games he appeared in during his four seasons at Illinois. This past year, he averaged 12.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists.

The graduate transfer power forward would have been the top transfer addition of the [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] era, but the Tigers will instead rely on their already solid transfer class which is paired with a top-10 high school signing class.

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LSU basketball’s 2024 recruiting class finishes in the top 10

Matt McMahon continues to bring a lot of talent to Baton Rouge.

It’s been a slower rebuild through two seasons of the [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] era than many expected, but as we enter the 2024-25 season, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

McMahon has acquired quite a bit of talent, especially through the transfer portal, but he hasn’t neglected high school recruiting either. LSU’s four-man class in 2024 features three top-100 prospects, and that was good enough to finish as a top-10 group in ESPN’s rankings.

The headliners are power forward [autotag]Robert Miller[/autotag] (No. 72), point guard [autotag]Curtis Givens III[/autotag] (No. 75) and shooting guard [autotag]Vyctorius Miller[/autotag] (No. 76). The Tigers also added [autotag]Noah Boyed[/autotag], a power forward who ranks as the No. 4 JUCO transfer in the country.

After finishing with a losing record in Year 1, LSU was above .500 last season and earned an NIT bid. With a top-10 class coming in, the Tigers will be expected to take another leap this winter.

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LSU men’s basketball to face Florida State in ACC/SEC Challenge

The Tigers will play host to the Seminoles on Dec. 3 at the PMAC.

LSU men’s basketball coach [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] enters a crucial Year 3 in 2024-25, and while we don’t know the full schedule yet, we do know at least one non-conference game for the Tigers.

They’ll be playing host to Florida State in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Dec. 3. In last year’s ACC/SEC Challenge, LSU went on the road to face Syracuse, a game it ultimately lost.

The Seminoles, led by veteran coach Leonard Hamilton in what will be his 23rd season, are coming off a disappointing 17-16 season that saw them miss the postseason. The two teams last faced in Nov. 2018, a game the Seminoles won 79-76.

After a disappointing first season under McMahon, LSU closed out 2023-24 in strong fashion and earned an NIT bid. With a transfer heavy team once again, the Tigers will hope to take the leap to tournament contention this season.

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LSU basketball to host top available transfer portal player

LSU will host the top available transfer on a visit next week.

As LSU basketball continues to ramp up its rebuild under [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag], the Tigers are set to host the top available recruit in the transfer portal on June 17, according to On3’s Joe Tipton.

[autotag]Coleman Hawkins[/autotag], originally a three-star recruit in 2019, hit the portal after playing four years at Illinois. He’s coming off a career year where he averaged 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while shooting over 45% from the field. The 6-foot-10 forward was a factor inside but could score it from deep too, averaging 1.4 threes made per game his last two years in Champaign.

Along with LSU, Kansas State is also getting a visit from Hawkins. Louisville was originally a contender, but Hawkins elected to cancel that visit.

Hawkins also tested the NBA draft waters before pulling his name and returning to the college ranks.

“I would go somewhere I can enjoy a football game,” Hawkins quipped last month.

There’s a lot more to his decision than that, but LSU’s athletic tradition across the board can’t hurt.

If McMahon pulls this off, Hawkins would be the fourth member of an already strong transfer class that ranks No. 11 in the country, according to On3.

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LSU AD Scott Woodward on the secret behind hiring successful coaches

It’s hard to deny Scott Woodward’s track record when it comes to hiring coaches.

Even before he arrived at LSU, athletics director Scott Woodward has been known as a big-game hunter.

He hired Chris Petersen away from Boise State while at Washington, picked up Jimbo Fisher and Buzz Williams while at Texas A&M, and since arriving at LSU in 2019, he has made his splashiest hires yet.

In football, he poached [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] from a blue blood Notre Dame program. In women’s basketball, he convinced [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] to return to her home state after winning three national titles and Baylor, and in baseball, he hired [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag], a successful head coach at Arizona.

Since then, the latter two have won national titles.

Speaking to Paul Finebaum while at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Florida, Woodward revealed the key to bringing successful coaches on board.

“Two things that are really important to me, Paul, and they’re obvious,” Woodward said, per On3. “One of them is their past record. Now, Kim (Mulkey) has been a winner everywhere she’s been, whether it’s valedictorian of her high school class or winning at a junior level in little league softball with the boys, or even through college as an Olympian. Everything she’s done, she’s won. Brian Kelly, same thing. Won at Grand Valley State. Won at Cincinnati. Won at Notre Dame. It’s hard to screw that up.

“Then, the second thing that’s really important to me is I try to hire guys that are a lot smarter than me. Really high IQs. Kim is smart as hell. BK is smart as hell. Jay Johnson, you know. They have that and I kind of think that when you have that formula that you just feel it. That’s just how I’ve always done it and I kind of focus on it in a big way.”

While Kelly and men’s basketball coach [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag], who Woodward also hired, are still seeking national titles, it’s hard to deny Woodward’s track record when it comes to head coaching moves.

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LSU basketball hiring Sacramento State’s David Patrick as associate head coach

David Patrick spent the last two seasons as the head coach at Sacramento State and was an assistant at LSU from 2012-16.

LSU made a splash to complete Matt McMahon’s men’s basketball coaching staff for the 2024-25 season.

On Wednesday, the program announced that [autotag]David Patrick[/autotag] would be returning to Baton Rouge to serve as the team’s associate head coach. Patrick spent the last two seasons as the head coach at Sacramento State.

Known as an elite recruiter, the 48-year-old Bermuda-born coach who was raised in Australia was an assistant at LSU under coach [autotag]Johnny Jones[/autotag] from 2012-16. In two seasons as the head coach of the Hornets, he had a 24-42 record.

“I am incredibly excited to welcome David Patrick and his family to our LSU coaching staff,” McMahon said in a release. “He is an outstanding basketball coach and an elite recruiter who has impacted winning at every stop on his journey. Coach Patrick brings tremendous experience and success to our program. He has been a Division I Head Coach, an assistant coach for the Australian National Team winning a bronze medal in the 2021 Olympics, and has coached in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

“I love Coach Patrick’s investment in player development and in building relationships. He has recruited and helped to develop multiple NBA Draft picks throughout his career. I look forward to the new ideas, solutions, and energy he will bring to our program. We can’t wait to get started this summer.”

After leaving LSU, Patrick spent two years as an assistant at TCU before leaving for the UC Riverside head coaching job. He left after two seasons in 2020 to join Arkansas as the associate head coach, a role he later held at Oklahoma, as well.

Patrick also brings NBA experience — three years as a personnel scout for the Houston Rockets from 2010-12 — and international experience to the table as he was an assistant coach for the Australian national team from 2019-21.

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LSU basketball lands JUCO big man transfer Noah Boyed

The Tigers added a promising 7-footer to the transfer class.

If there’s one thing [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] has proven at LSU, it’s that he can remake the men’s basketball roster in short order. He’s done so once again this offseason after the team took a step forward in Year 2 but still missed the NCAA tournament, and on Thursday, he added yet another piece.

JUCO center transfer [autotag]Noah Boyed[/autotag] committed to the Tigers over Oregon and Wisconsin, according to On3’s Joe Tipton. A native of St. Lucia, the McCook Community College 7-footer was originally committed to Baylor but reopened his recruitment last month.

Boyed ranks as the No. 4 JUCO prospect in the country, according to 247Sports. With McCook, he started 32 of 36 games he appeared in, averaging 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds.

Boyed joins a recruiting class that features three top-100 prospects and ranks 15th nationally. The Tigers also brought in a trio of transfer guards this offseason in [autotag]Jordan Sears[/autotag], [autotag]Cam Carter[/autotag] and [autotag]Dji Bailey[/autotag].

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LSU men’s basketball announced as part of inaugural Greenbriar Tip-Off field in 2024

The Tigers are heading to the mountains of West Virginia for an early season tournament.

The LSU men’s basketball team is taking a trip to West Virginia, in November to take part in the inaugural Greenbriar Tip-Off, as was announced on Wednesday.

The Tigers will join Wisconsin, Pittsburgh and UCF in the field as part of the mountain division, where they will play in a two-game bracketed tournament on Nov. 22 and 24. The event will take place at the Greenbriar Resort, which is in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Fans interested in attending the tip-off tournament can purchase travel packages beginning on May 21. Those packages include tickets to the game as well as accommodations at the resort.

LSU previously participated in the Cayman Islands Classic and Charleston Classic in the first two seasons under [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag], winning two games in each.

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