Coach Matt McMahon has not sounded this upbeat since his LSU basketball team beat Arkansas and coach John Calipari, 78-74, on Jan. 14 to improve to 12-5 overall and 1-3 in the Southeastern Conference.
LSU then went on to finish the season 14-18 and 3-15, while Arkansas is 22-13 (8-10 SEC) and in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
McMahon has been immersed in NCAA Transfer Portal preparation since the Tigers ended the season, and he will soon be signing some badly needed talented players with the portal window opening last Monday.
“It’s still a little early to sign players, but I really love the direction that we’re going,” he said on Tiger Rag Radio Tuesday night. “We’re involved with a lot of really good players. And I’m fired up about the way it’s going here so far.”
McMahon, who enters his fourth season in 2025-26, is coming off his second losing season in three years. He was 14-19 and 2-16 in his first season at LSU in 2022-23 when he took over a depleted roster after LSU received major NCAA penalties under previous coach Will Wade. He went 17-16 and 9-9 in 2023-24 and reached the NIT.
Eight games into last season, he lost his best player and only true inside presence in junior forward Jalen Reed for the season to an ACL knee injury. LSU never recovered.
And two of McMahon’s three portal signees – guard Jordan Sears of UT Martin and guard Dji Bailey of Richmond – were not impressive. Each were from smallish schools and not ready for prime time SEC basketball. McMahon got what he paid for on a limited NIL budget, which was among the lowest in the SEC at approximately $2 million.
This year, McMahon’s NIL budget for roster retention and enhancement is approximately to $8 million, according to sources, because of newfound NIL strategies and financial deployment by LSU. That means McMahon can shop for much better players than last year. He is likely targeting four portal players, but in significantly more elite pools because of his larger budget.
“I think we’re in a really good place there,” McMahon said when asked about his additional portal recruiting resources. “There’s been a great investment in men’s basketball, and I think we’re really well positioned – not only from a retention standpoint, but the ability to go out and sign the players in the transfer portal that are going to come in here and impact winning, and allow us to build a NCAA Tournament team.”
MATT MCMAHON KEEPS HIS JOB AND HAS NEW SUPPORT
McMahon has four years left on his original contract that will pay him $2.9 million in 2025-26. LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, who hired McMahon, decided to keep him amid this year’s losing season and give him a better chance in the near future with an enhanced NIL package for his roster construction.
“I’m thrilled with with that and appreciative of the opportunity to do it,” McMahon said. “And now we’ve got to execute the plan as these visits start up. We’ve been doing a lot of intel work, a lot of film study, and lots of zoom calls and phone calls and in-person visits. Really excited about the progress being made in the portal right now.”
Three LSU players entered the portal Monday – starting forward Corey Chest and guards Mike Williams III and Tyrell Ward, which left McMahon with eight scholarship players. Those moves may have been more mutual or even suggested by McMahon than some of the media reports on their departures indicated, as they freed up NIL money for incoming portal players. Williams was a reserve, and Ward sat out the whole season for mental health reasons. Chest had his moments last year, but was inconsistent.
“I’m certainly not looking to re-recruit or bring anyone back once they’ve made that decision,” McMahon said. “Wish them all the very best.”
There are three incoming four-star freshmen from his 2025 class that is ranked No. 18 in the nation. That leaves four spots for the 15-player limit on rosters, unless another player enters the portal.
McMahon is looking for size and beef as his team was often overwhelmed and worn down in the second half of games last season.
“The positional size, the physicality that you see in this league – we have to identify that as we build the roster,” he said. “That’s what is so critical to us in this portal.”
With the right players, McMahon is confident LSU can flip quickly from among the SEC’s worst to the NCAA Tournament next year, which is what happened to Missouri and Vanderbilt this past season. Missouri was 8-24 and 0-18 in the SEC in 2023-24, then 21-10 and 10-8 this season with an NCAA Tournament bid. Vanderbilt was 9-23 and 4-14 last year before flipping to 20-13 and 8-10 this year with an NCAA Tournament bid.
“I think it’s very realistic,” McMahon said when asked if he could be in the NCAA Tournament next season. “It’s happened in our league. I’m excited about the investment made into the program, and the talent we’re going to be able to identify and bring in. It’s college basketball in this new era, and that’s what we’re planning to do. I’m going to be really excited about the players we bring back and have already signed. We’ll combine those with the players we’ll bring in through the portal.”
After that, it’s time to build a team from a roster and coach again, which McMahon likes best.
“Then it’s time to get to work,” he said. “We have to make sure we get the right people on the bus, get them in the right seat and move the team forward toward the NCAA Tournament next season.”
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