GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Well, it’s a start. And it’s a starter from the nation’s best basketball conference at the moment.
The LSU men’s basketball team landed Mississippi State starting sophomore center Michael Nwoko (6-foot-10, 245 pounds) via the NCAA Transfer Portal on Monday – one week after the portal window opened.
Nwoko averaged only 6.1 points and 4.6 rebounds a game, however, for the Bulldogs last season in 32 starts and 34 games. But that was in the Southeastern Conference, which put a NCAA record 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament this season, including State, breaking the Big East’s previous record of 11 set in 2011. And the SEC also saw a record seven teams reach the Sweet 16 round, breaking the previous mark by three also.
And Nwoko did put up those single digits in just 15.4 minutes a game as the Bulldogs finished 21-13 overall and 8-10 in the SEC. But in the NCAA Tournament, he scored just two points with four rebounds in 15 minutes in the Bulldog’s 75-72 loss to Baylor in the first round. Then he had just two points and one rebound in eight minutes of the 85-73 loss to Missouri in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
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Nwoko did score double-figure points three times in SEC play with 11 and three rebounds in a 76-75 win at Georgia on Feb. 8, 11 again with four rebounds in a 65-60 overtime win on Jan. 25 at South Carolina, which finished last in the SEC at 2-16, and 10 points with five boards in a 95-90 loss to No. 6 Kentucky on Jan. 11.
Against LSU last season, Nwoko scored eight points with five rebounds in 14 minutes in a 91-62 win in the SEC Tournament and had six points and six rebounds in 15 minutes of an 81-69 victory on March 1.
He scored in double figures four times in non-conference play with 18 in wins over Central Michigan and No. 18 Pittsburgh and 11 in a win over Butler and 10 in a victory over Prairie View.
He played as a reserve in his freshman season at Miami in 2023-24, averaging 2.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and eight minutes in 29 games for the Hurricanes (15-17, 6-14 ACC).
Nwoko signed with Miami as a four-star prospect and the No. 16 center in the country for the class of 2023 from Prolific Prep in Napa, California, the same school that incoming LSU freshman Mazi Mosley is from. Mosley is the No. 12 shooting guard in the country.
Nwoko’s height is something LSU coach Matt McMahon is looking for in this Transfer Portal window, which runs through April 22.
“The positional size, the physicality that you see in this league – we have to identify that as we build the roster,” he told Tiger Rag last week. “That’s what is so critical to us in this portal.”
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Corey Chest, a 6-8 redshirt freshman who started 19 games last season for the Tigers, entered the portal last week after averaging 6.1 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.
Also entering the portal last week were sophomore reserve guard Mike Williams III, freshman guard Vyctorius Miller, who averaged 8.9 points in 25 games and five starts, deep reserve junior forward Noah Boyde, and junior guard Tyrell Ward, who left the team shortly before the 2024-25 season began.
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