By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LAKE CHARLES – LSU freshman Michael Ruzic of Zadar, Croatia, was cleared to play just three hours before tip-off here Thursday at McNeese State.
And the 7-foot center played like a pro, which he was last spring for the Joventut Badalona pro team in Catalonia, Spain.
“They said he was a pro, and I believe he is,” McNeese State coach Bill Armstrong said after watching Ruzic score 11 points with 16 rebounds as LSU coach Will Wade’s gradually growing roster of Tigers defeated the Cowboys, 63-60, in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,424 at Townsley Law Arena.
“We got Ruzic cleared at 3:30 this afternoon,” Wade said after beating the school he was head coach for from 2023-26 after being fired by LSU in 2022. “He was excited. He’s a warrior and a great person. He’s going to be a phenomenal player. He had 16 rebounds with two bodies on him.”
Ruzic, who also blocked a shot and had an assist in 35 minutes, was one of seven new LSU players who suddenly appeared on a printed LSU roster of 10 players that was handed out to reporters shortly before the 6:30 p.m. tip-off here. LSU basketball sports information director Kent Lowe gave the roster to McNeese State sports information director Matthew Bonnette on Wednesday.
Eureka! LSU Basketball has a roster and a 63-60 exhibition win at McNeese. Also technical wireless difficulties. Story coming soon. https://t.co/x3DQDCSz2l
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) October 9, 2026
Since the summer, LSU’s official roster on the school’s athletic website lsusports.net has had only four players, and it still has only four players officially – junior guard Divine Ugochukwu (Michigan State transfer), senior guard Abdi Bashir Jr. (Kansas State transfer), senior forward Mouhamed Dioutbate (Kentucky transfer) and senior guard Austin Nunez (Texas-San Antonio transfer).
Ugochukwu led the Tigers with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 2 of 6 from three-point range, in 39 minutes. Dioubate added 16 with eight rebounds and a blocked shot in 34 minutes. Bashir added six points with three rebounds in 38 minutes.
The roster distributed for this exhibition did not include Nunez, but that’s because he is injured and has not been practicing. He recently had foot surgery and is expected to return to the team this season.
The new players on the roster include five players previously reported as on the secret roster by Tiger Rag – senior guard Donovan Dent (UCLA transfer), freshman forward Jordan Bender of Northside Christian School in St. Petersburg, Florida, senior guard Skyy Clark (UCLA transfer), senior walk-on guard Luke Stansbury (Stephen F. Austin transfer) and Ruzic.
Dent scored 12 points with five rebounds and an assist in 39 minutes. Bender played 10 minutes, but did not score or rebound. Clark was listed on the roster, but did not play as he has not been cleared yet. Stansbury did not play.
The other new players were 7-foot freshman center Strake Pearson of Prosper, Texas, and walk-on guard Brad Fife of Catholic High Baton Rouge. Pearson played three minutes but had no points or rebounds.
Wade brought 15 players in all on the trip.
Players Wade expects to have eligible soon are Clark, 6-11 freshman center Brice Dessert, who is a former pro from the Andalou Efes team in Istanbul, Turkey, and 6-6 freshman forward Saliou Niang, who is a former pro from the Virtus team in Bologna, Italy. And there is expected to be more.
“Certainly, we have a lot to clean up,” Wade said. “It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t perfect. But to find away like we did with basically just five guys – that was pretty important. We played a couple who weren’t expected to play. We were spit balling stuff toward the end of the game. Those guys really battled.”
McNeese State led 56-53 with 3:04 to go as the crowd was roaring. But Ugochukwu nailed a three-pointer with 2:40 left to tie it. Ruzic put LSU ahead to stay at 58-56 with 1:06 left on two free throws. Dent added two free throws with :25 left for a 60-56 lead, another for a 61-56 advantage with 16 seconds to go and two more at :06 for a 63-58 lead before a jumper by McNeese’s Larry Johnson at :02.
Johnson led all scorers with 22 points.
“What a great crowd,” said Armstrong, a former assistant of Wade’s at LSU the first time Wade was LSU’s coach and at McNeese. “It was exciting. It was like a tournament game. I appreciate coach Wade and LSU doing this for us.”
Wade, who took McNeese State to two NCAA Tournaments and two Southland Conference titles in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons after being fired by LSU in 2022, had mixed emotions.
“It felt great to be back at home,” he said. “I appreciate everybody at McNeese. I’ll be following the Cowboys every game.”
And Wade said to make sure everyone follows LSU.
“We’re about to be loaded up,” he said of the incoming additions to his roster. “We’ll have a couple more next week and then another couple more. After that, we’ll be hell on wheels, so get ready.”
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