LSU Basketball's Courtese Cooper Suspended Indefinitely Following Illinois Arrest, Source Confirms

LSU sophomore forward Courtese Cooper has been indefinitely suspended from the team after being arrested outside of his hometown of Elgin, Illinois.

The news, first reported by Amie Just of the Advocate, comes in the aftermath of a sophomore season that saw Cooper average 1.1 points and 1.7 rebounds in 11 appearances for the Tigers in 2019. A source later confirmed to LSU Country that "per LSU Athletic Department policy, he has been suspended indefinitely from the men's basketball team."

According to Just, Cooper was arrested on one count of possession of a controlled substance. Upon learning the news, LSU suspended the 6-foot-9 athletic forward.

Cooper redshirted his first year in Baton Rouge during the Tigers' Sweet Sixteen run, after transferring from Triton junior college.

The most action Cooper saw in any game during the 2019-20 season was 14 minutes in a 77-50 LSU win over UMBC. Cooper logged four points and five rebounds against the Retrievers.

Cooper's profile page is no longer on the LSUsports website.

LSU is bringing in a plethora of bigs to add to the 2020 roster, including UCLA transfer Shareef O'Neal and freshman Bradley Ezewiro. The Tigers could also see the return of underclassmen Trendon Watford and Darius Days, who both entered their names into the 2020 NBA Draft to test the waters but left their NCAA eligibility open.

Coach Will Wade and the Tigers remain in hot pursuit of center Moussa Cisse, who reclassified to the 2020 class and should be committing in the near future. Cisse was originally scheduled to commit this week but due to the social unrest in the country at the moment, as decided to hold off until a more appropriate time, according to 247Sports.

Cisse is considering LSU, Memphis, Kentucky, Florida State, Georgia and Georgetown and would be a huge fish for Wade to reel in to close the 2020 recruiting class.