LSU Faces Major Obstacle As SEC Opens With Star Point Guard Dedan Thomas Jr. Out With Injury

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Just when LSU’s basketball team was on a roll, the Tigers will not have star junior transfer point guard Dedan “D.J.” Thomas Jr., in Saturday’s Southeastern Conference opener at Texas A&M because of a lower leg injury.

“D.J. will be out today,” LSU coach Matt McMahon told Tiger Rag on Saturday afternoon. “Day-to-day moving forward.”

Thomas, who leads the SEC in assists and is ninth nationally with 7.0 a game and is the Tigers’ top scorer with 16.2 points a game, has a lower leg injury and was placed on the SEC office’s availability report late Friday as “doubtful” by McMahon.

It is unclear when Thomas was injured. He scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting with 2 of 2 from three-point range and 12 assists in 35 minutes in the Tigers’ 90-62 win over Southern Mississippi on Monday. McMahon didn’t mention an injury after that game or when he spoke with reporters on Wednesday.

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Backup senior guard transfer PJ Carter (3.2 points, 8.7 minutes a game) is also listed on the availability report as probable after a collision with a teammate in practice. He is expected to be available.

The Tigers (12-1, 35 NET) play at Texas A&M (10-3, 67 NET) at 3 p.m. today on ESPNU.

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Thomas has started all 13 of LSU’s games this season and is averaging 30 minutes a game.

“You see how effective D.J. is in the open floor,” McMahon said after the game Monday. “He has such a great feel of the game and vision against different coverages. He’s just so smart. Just thought he was fantastic.”

LSU’s backup point guard is true freshman Jalen Reece, who is averaging 3.3 points and 1.8 assists in 13 minutes a game.

Thomas transferred to LSU after the 2024-25 season from UNLV as the No. 6 point guard in the portal and 15th player overall. He averaged 15.6 points and 4.6 assists last season at UNLV and 13.6 points and 5.1 assists as a freshman. He signed with UNLV for its Class of 2023 as the No. 8 point guard in the country, No. 34 prospect overall and No. 1 player from Nevada out of Liberty High in Las Vegas.