kiro7
BATON ROUGE, La. — Will Wade's second chapter at LSU officially began on Tuesday night, exactly 1,697 days after his first tenure came to an abrupt end.
Wade was dismissed on March 12, 2022, shortly after the NCAA issued a formal notice of allegations to LSU, which later found him responsible for five major recruiting violations. Following a year away from coaching, he spent two seasons at McNeese State and one at North Carolina State before returning to Baton Rouge.
Now back with the Tigers, Wade has successfully assembled a full 14-man roster and has already secured the nation's No. 1 recruiting class for 2027-28, as ranked by both 247sports.com and On3.com.
In his regular-season debut, LSU cruised to a 100-57 victory in front of 7,919 fans at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The win comes after consecutive 3-15 Southeastern Conference seasons and overall records of 14-18 and 15-17 under former coach Matt McMahon.
"We're not back for the nostalgia or any of that. We're back to win," said the 43-year-old Wade. "We're back to dominate. We're back to build a championship-caliber program."
During his first stint at LSU, Wade led the Tigers to the SEC regular-season championship in 2018-19 with a 25-5 overall record and a 15-2 mark in conference play. The team advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, but Wade was suspended by the university amid reports of cheating and failure to cooperate with investigations, preventing him from attending. He guided LSU to two more NCAA Tournaments, though he was fired before the second one.
"I would say we're determined to put a good product on the court and something people can be proud of," Wade said.
LSU dominated from the start, leading 53-17 at halftime and extending the margin to 50 points at 68-18 in the second half. The Tigers' largest lead was 54 points at 84-30 with 9:07 remaining.
"It was a solid first outing," Wade said.
Donovan Dent, a fifth-year senior transfer from UCLA, led all scorers with 19 points and 10 assists. Five other Tigers reached double figures, including three who were playing professionally overseas earlier this year.
Michael Ruzic, a 7-foot freshman from Zadar, Croatia, who played professionally in Catalonia, Spain, contributed 17 points and six rebounds. Forward Saliou Niang, a native of Dakar, Senegal, who previously played for a pro team in Bologna, Italy, recorded 14 points and 14 rebounds. Center Brice Dessert, a 6-11 native of Pontoise, France, and former pro in Istanbul, Turkey, added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Guard Abdi Bashir Jr., a senior transfer from Kansas State, scored 11 points, while senior forward Mo Dioubate, a transfer from Kentucky, chipped in 10 points.
"It's been a long time coming from the summer time," Dioubate said. "It was only four of us at a point. And now we've got our whole team. We've just been ready to go. We've got all the tools to get it done. We're going to shock everyone."
For Wade, this is just the beginning — again. "This was just one step in what we're trying to do," he said. "We want to start building a program that can compete on the championship level again."
Key Analysis
Wade's return marks a significant turning point for LSU basketball, which has struggled in recent seasons. His ability to quickly assemble a talented roster and secure top recruiting classes suggests a rapid rebuild. However, the shadow of his past NCAA violations may linger, and the true test will be whether he can translate early success into sustained championship contention in the highly competitive SEC.
Originally reported by kiro7.