By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – LSU’s basketball team is about to put to test the saying “numbers don’t lie.”
A year ago in Tigers’ head coach Matt McMahon’s first season, LSU started 12-1 including a win in its SEC opener over No. 9 and eventual NCAA Sweet 16 participant Arkansas.
Then, the Tigers won just two of their last 20 games and finished 14-19 overall and 2-16 in the SEC, including a 14-game losing streak.
Now, with a mostly revamped roster for the second straight year, LSU is just 8-5 as it opens SEC play Saturday night at 7:30 on the road vs. Texas A&M (9-4).
Yet, there’s the feeling this season didn’t start for LSU until three games ago when senior transfer point guard Jalen Cook became eligible because of a West Virginia court order that forced the NCAA to change its rule requiring an athlete transferring multiple times to sit out a year.
“The best thing you can ever say about a point guard is they make everyone else around them better,” McMahon said. “He (Cook) has made the game easier for us as a team. Collectively, we’ve just played a lot better on the offensive side of the ball as far as spacing, ball movement, shot selection, taking care of the ball and playing a lot more efficiently.”
LSU is 2-1 since Cook, whose appeal to gain eligibility had been denied by the NCAA, was cleared to play. He started his college career in 2020-21 under former LSU coach Will Wade playing just 7.5 minutes per game in 20 appearances. A Louisiana state Player of the Year for Walker High, Cook transferred to Tulane for two seasons where he developed into a two-time American Athletic Conference first-team honoree the last two seasons.
Not having Cook eligible in the Tigers’ first 10 games of the season resulted in disjointed offensive play. LSU is last in the 14-team SEC in turnover/assists ratio, but that has quickly improved in the last two games (and wins) over Lamar and Northwestern State as Cook stepped into the starting lineup.
“He (Cook) kind of cemented our identity,” said senior grad student Vanderbilt transfer and Baton Rouge native Jordan Wright, who’s LSU’s top scorer averaging 14.6 points. “Jalen has eased the game for everyone. He’s so smart, so savvy on the court. He’s able to calm the team and have that sort of confidence that we need. It’s been great for us.”
Cook is averaging 14.3 points, 3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals. While he certainly hasn’t found his shooting touch yet, he’s had a profound effect on teammates like freshman guard Mike Williams III and grad student transfer forward Hunter Dean.
Williams, who had started at point guard while Cook was ineligible, has thrived since coming off the bench as more of a shooting guard. Freed from the responsibility of directing an offense, his 20-point performance in LSU’s 96-55 win over Northwestern State last Friday earned him SEC Freshman of the Week honors at the start of this week.
Since Cook joined the team in time for LSU’s 96-85 loss vs. Texas in Houston on Dec. 16, the 6-10 Dean averaged 10 points and 6 rebounds in 19.6 minutes off the bench.
A big part of the improvement of Mandeville native Dean, who started 48 games in three years for George Washington before transferring to LSU this season, is his work with Cook in pick-and-roll situations.
“Most of my career, I’ve been more of a ball screen big,” Dean said. “Playing with Jalen Cook, there is a level of comfortability with him because I am used to just screening and getting points off just rolling to the basket. Like Jordan has been saying, Cook is really good. He has a really high IQ off of the ball screen.”
The fact LSU played just a trio of games in the almost three weeks Cook has been in uniform has been extremely beneficial. It’s meant more practice time, like Cook working with Dean and starting center Will Baker on pick-and-rolls.
“Every day before practice, we work ball screen drills,” Cook said recently. “We have great bigs in Will Baker, Hunter Dean, (Derek) Fountain, Jalen Reed … they’re big-time for us. “I just take what the defense gives me (coming off screens), staying aggressive off it.”
McMahon certainly feels better about his team with Cook. But also, there’s a sense of optimism since LSU is finally at full strength after a series of injuries and illness.
“Today (Thursday), we have availability of our entire team for the first time since June 1,” McMahon said. “It’s starting to become a lot clearer, but not a finished product by any means.”
Last season, Texas A&M was 25-10, finished second in the SEC at 15-3 mark, lost in the SEC tourney finals to Alabama and was upset in an NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Penn State.
This year, the Aggies were picked by league media in the preseason to finish second in the SEC. They have almost an identical record to LSU, but A&M’s schedule has been considerably tougher.
The Aggies already have three Quadrant I wins and are 25th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings. The wins came over Iowa State (8th), Ohio State (38th) and SMU (43rd). LSU, ranked No. 138, is 0-1 in games vs. Quadrant I opponents.
“It’s been a lot over the last eight weeks, it feels like a season in itself to be honest,” Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams said. “A lot of the lessons that we’ve learned will apply over the next 10 weeks of conference play. The key will be not forgetting those lessons and executing them over the next 10 weeks. That will depend upon the maturity of our group, and we have a mature group of really good people.”
LSU opens its SEC home schedule next Tuesday vs. Vanderbilt at 8 p.m.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com