Breaking: LSU Guard Charles Manning Will Return to Lineup Against Alabama Saturday
LSU junior guard Charles Manning will return to the lineup on Saturday, a source confirmed to LSU Country. Manning has been held out of action since suffering a fractured foot on Jan. 14 in an 89-85 win over Texas A&M.
The source also confirmed that Manning would "probably" be on a minutes restriction Saturday against the Crimson Tide but didn't go into any specifics. Before his injury, Manning had established himself as the Tigers best bench player, averaging eight points and three rebounds on 51% shooting and 40% from three.
Manning's return will be a welcomed addition for an LSU bench that has struggled in terms of production over the last three games. In losses to Vanderbilt and Auburn, and most recently a win over Missouri, the LSU bench has combined to score just seven points.
Coach Will Wade said after the win over Missouri, the team needs more from its bench players as LSU's starters scored all 82 points Tuesday night.
"We’ve got to get more from our bench. Hopefully we’ll have Charles (Manning Jr.) back on Saturday,' Wade said. "We’ll need him back bad because we need some help on our bench. I thought Marshall Graves played really good minutes for us tonight. I thought he was probably our best guy off the bench tonight because he was solid, but we need some help. It’s going to be hard to keep winning with just five guys. Our bench guys need to step up and help us.”
Wade is most intrigued with the possibility of playing Manning and Taylor together, which he hopes will solve some of the defensive issues the team has had recently.
"We've never had Charles and Marlon on the floor together so when we have Charles and Marlon on the floor it'll fix about 80% of the problem," Wade said. "The problems have to do with matchups in a way they're playing and things like that. We need both of those guys back so that we can kind of go with a five person guard rotation or four person big rotation."
