LSU Reveals Most Up-to-date Basketball Roster During Exhibition

LSU basketball is back, but it still awaits a handful of roster additions.

Mar 29, 2026; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers mens basketball head coach Will Wade looks on against the Houston Rockets during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

LSU basketball played its first minutes of public basketball on Thursday, on a trip West to face McNeese in a homecoming exhibition for Will Wade. That trip revealed a lot more about LSU's roster than everyone knew a week ago.

LSU ran out Donovan Dent at point guard, with Divine Ugochukwu and Abdi Bashir at guard, Mo Dioubate at forward, and Michael Ruzic at center.

That's already more players than were listed on LSU's roster on its website last week. And it has some depth - not the top pieces it hoped it would have by now - but Wade knows those final pieces are coming.

The Split

Feb 19, 2022; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Will Wade directs his team against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the second half at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

LSU listed 10 total available players on its roster last night, with only seven recording minutes.

For the starters, they played almost every minute, with the least minutes played by a player coming in at 35 minutes.

Dent played 39 minutes, scoring 12 points; Ugochukwu played 39 minutes, scoring 18 points; Bashir played 38 minutes, scoring six points; Ruzic played 35 minutes, scoring 11 points; and Dioubate played 34 minutes, scoring 16 points.

"I mean, damn, we look like a team that could compete with just about anybody when we’ve got the full group," Wade said after the 63-60 win over McNeese. "Just wait."

Keep On Waiting

Sep 26, 2026; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers men's basketball head coach Will Wade speaks with a recruit prior to the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The full team is together at practice while they await all of the eligibility clearances.

“When it comes to practice, we’re damn good," Wade said. "When we got the full group, we can compete with anybody. We’re about to be loaded up here. Look out now.”

Wade expects the last few cases to clear up soon and be ready for LSU’s final exhibition game at noon on Oct. 24 at Florida State.

“I think we’ll have more guys for the next one," Wade said. “We have another two that are eligible to play but we wanted to make sure all the paperwork we need to work through.”

LSU just needs the full roster to be eligible before the season starts on Nov. 3, nearly a month from its first public action.

A Solid Unit

Mar 11, 2022; Tampa, FL, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Will Wade reacts against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the first half at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

One name that was thought to be there last night, but wasn't, is guard Austin Nunez. Nunez was one of the four players who were listed on the roster, but he will likely miss some time with an injury.

Some of the depth pieces LSU added to its roster were Luke Stansbury, the son of Tigers assistant Rick Stansbury, and Bradley Fife, who is an undersized freshman out of Catholic High School in Baton Rouge.

Strake Pearson - a seven-foot-tall player - and Jordan Bender are two freshmen who the team will likely call on to play early in their careers, unless LSU starts to bring in some of the major players searching for eligibility.

This is far from a perfect roster, but Wade has added some solid leaders to lean on, and most importantly, he'll have managed to assemble a full group.

Wade is hopeful that the eligibility battles will fall LSU's way in the coming weeks.

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