Meet the Newcomers: Matt McMahon Details LSU Basketball's Fresh-Faced Roster

McMahon and Co. reeled in a trio of Top 60 recruits in America, several newcomers preparing to take on key roles.

Mar 14, 2024; Nashville, TN, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Matt McMahon calls out the defense against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the second half at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

LSU men’s basketball Head Coach Matt McMahon and his staff put the Tigers through a two-hour and 10-minute practice as the countdown for the start of the 2024-25 season official began.

The Tigers can practice 30 times over a 42-day period which counts down to the Wednesday, Nov. 6, season opener against ULM at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU will play an exhibition game in the Maravich Center on Oct. 29 against Loyola (NO).

The practice involved several drills and multiple player sessions, including plenty of 5-on-5 play in the second half of the practice.

“Obviously, a very exciting day for us as we get to kick off the 2024-25 season,” said Coach McMahon earlier in the day at a media session. “I think it’s been a terrific offseason for our program. From player retention to our recruiting class, to the coaching staff additions that have been made. It’s been very productive for us and now excited to get to take the floor together for the first time.”

The Tiger squad has new talent in three freshman recruits – Vyctorius Miller, Robert Miller and Curtis Givens.

“With the freshman class you look at three top 60 players in that 24 class,” said Coach McMahon. “Curtis Givens has been everything we were expecting at the point guard position; just rock-solid consistency, relentless worker, and he’s shooting the ball exceptionally well from three. Vyctorius Miller is another very talented guard with good size at 6-5. I think he has great IQ and feel for the game, can score in a variety of different ways, and then also a very good playmaker and he’s been one of our tops in assist to turnover ratio in the workouts this fall. And then Robert Miller, almost 6-11, 7-5 wingspan he’s done a terrific job with Coach (Mike) Chatman in the weight room. He’s gained about 20 pounds, he’s up around two 229 now and really talented. I talked about him when he signed, he’s not a back to the basket, old school player. He’s very skilled, he shoots it well from three and is going to be a really good player but he also provides shot blocking with his length and athleticism around the rim.”

Leading the returnees are a quartet of players in Jalen Reed, Tyrell Ward, Mike Williams and Derek Fountain. Reed, Ward and Fountain are all in their third year in the LSU program and Reed and Ward showed tremendous improvement from the player development program from their freshman to sophomore season and it is hoped for the same improvement to their junior season.

Fountain is in his fifth year as a college player and looks to play at a little more-healthy clip after some nagging problems early in the 2023-24 season. Williams, in his second season, had to play a lot as a freshman and did a good job as LSU was able to get a lot out of him at both the point and off-guard positions.

Corey Chest will play this season after the NOLA product redshirted in the 2023-24 season and Daimion Collins has been cleared as a season ending injury in mid-December 2023.

LSU also went to the transfer portal for some members of this roster which Coach McMahon explained when asked some of his philosophy of putting a roster together for the Tigers.

“There are really three different areas of the program that we’ve discussed. Player retention, obviously very important, the transfer portal and the freshman class I just discussed. What we’ve tried to really do a good job of is we just want to use the transfer portal where there’s an immediate need and I don’t want large numbers there so I’m really pleased with the three that we brought in with Cam Carter, Jordan Sears and Dji Bailey, all three, impact winning. They had I think a combined 46 or 47 points a game of production last year and so we’re excited about those three.

“As far as trying to combine those three different areas into one, I think the weight room, the addition of coach Chatman to our staff he’s been fantastic there. I think that’s where you get a lot of your toughness and adversity that your players face, but then I think the time you spend outside of basketball it’s still important and I know the game has changed, but it’s still college basketball and team chemistry matters so team building events, whether it’s going to TopGolf, going bowling, tailgating together as a team, I think all those things go a long way toward developing and building the trust of the squad.”

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