By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It was fitting that LSU basketball coach Will Wade and his team were fogged out the day they were supposed to fly to Birmingham, Alabama, for the SEC Media Days last month and got grounded in Baton Rouge.
“Really rough. You couldn’t even see the runway,” Wade said of the scene at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport on October 13.
He could have been talking about his incoming roster at the time as it was still more than partly cloudy as the season opener approached. That is now as the Tigers open the season tonight against LSU-New Orleans in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (7 p.m., SEC Network+).
That fog gradually lifted in more ways than one, and on game day Tuesday, Wade was at 14 players on his roster with the late NCAA clearance of 7-foot-3 center Gilad Levy, a former pro in Spain.
That was after what amounted to a National Signing Day for Wade on Oct. 20 when over a few hours that day, the NCAA cleared three of Wade’s top signees and brought his roster from four officially in mid-October to a whopping 13 for the season at that time.
The terrific trio of transfers that the NCAA cleared on Oct 20 were freshman forward Saliou Niang (6-foot-6, 190, age 22) of the Virtus pro team in Bologna, Italy, freshman center Brice Dessert (6-11, 247, age 23) of the Andalou Efes pro team in Istanbul, Turkey, and fifth-year senior UCLA transfer guard Skyy Clark (6-3, 210, age 23), who averaged 11.5 points last season while shooting .42 percent from three-point range and 82 percent from the line.
All three may start tonight.
“I believe on November 3, we will roll out there with a very good team,” Wade said on Oct. 8. “We’re about to be loaded up. After we get everyone we think we’ll get cleared, we’ll be hell on wheels. So, get ready.”
And he was right on.
LSU BASKETBALL 2026-27 ROSTER (14)
NAME, HT, WT, POS, CLASS, PREVIOUS SCHOOL/PRO/PREP TEAM, TOWN, AGE, OFFICIAL ROSTERED DATE
-ABDI BASHIR JR., 6-5, 170, Guard, Sr., Kansas State, Phoenix Prep, Phoenix, Arizona, Age: 22 – rostered May 8
-JORDAN BENDER, 6-8, 200, Forward, Fr., Northside Chr. High, St. Petersburg, Fla., Louisville, Age: 18 – rostered as of Oct. 8
-SKYY CLARK, 6-3, 210, Guard, Sr., UCLA, Montverde Academy-Florida, Los Angeles, Age: 23 – rostered Oct. 20
-DONOVAN DENT, 6-2,185, Guard, Sr., UCLA, Centennial High, Corona, Cal., Riverside, Cal., Age: 22 – rostered as of Oct. 8
-BRICE DESSERT, 6-11, 247, Center, Sr., Andalou Efes pro team, Istanbul, Turkey, Pontoise, France, Age: 23 – rostered Oct. 20
-MOUHAMED DIOUBATE, 6-8, 235, Forward, Sr., Kentucky, Putnam, Queens, New York, Age: 22 – rostered April 20
–BRAD FIFE, 5-10, 150, Guard, Fr., Catholic High, Baton Rouge, Age: 18 – rostered as of Oct. 8
– GILAD LEVY, 7-3, 242, Center, Sr., Palencia pro team, Palencia, Spain, Ashdod, Israel, Age: 24 – rostered Nov. 3
-SALIOU NIANG, 6-6, 190, Forward, Jr., Virtus pro team, Bologna, Italy, Dakar, Senegal,West Africa, Age: 22 – rostered Oct. 21
-AUSTIN NUNEZ, 6-2, 175, Guard, Sr., Texas-San Antonio, Wagner High, San Antonio, Texas, Age: 23 – rostered May 18
-STRAKE PEARSON, 7-0, 234, Center, Fr., IMG Academy, Bradenton, Florida, Prosper, Texas, Age 19 – rostered as of Oct. 8
-MICHAEL RUZIC, 7-0, 160, Forward, Fr., Joventut pro team, Catalonia, Spain, Besancon, France, Age: 19 – rostered Oct. 8
-LUKE STANSBURY, 6-2, 185, Guard, Fr., Stephen F. Austin, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Age: 21 – rostered as of Oct. 8
-DIVINE UGOCHUKWU, 6-3, 200, Guard, Jr., Michigan State, Clements High, Sugar Land, Texas, Age: 20 – rostered May 7
NOTE: Players listed as officially rostered as of Oct. 8 above were rostered before that, but that was not released by LSU. All above players practiced with LSU since the first day of practice in September, even though most were not yet cleared by the NCAA, which was in accordance with NCAA rules.
This will be Wade’s second stint at LSU after recharging a dormant program into a three-time NCAA Tournament team from 2017-22 before that all ended in a storm of NCAA recruiting violations and his firing.
“We’re going to have a chance to compete with anybody in the SEC this season, so we’ll be able to compete with anybody nationally,” Wade continued. “We’re excited about the guys we have. We’ll have a puncher’s chance of beating anybody on our schedule.”
Wade can’t wait. After resurfacing at McNeese for two seasons (2023-25) following his firing and then at North Carolina State for the 2025-26 season, Wade wants to pick up where he left off. He won LSU first SEC title in 10 years in 2018-19 at 25-5 and 15-2 and reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Two more NCAA Tournaments followed.
“This is a great place, and I didn’t like leaving things unfinished,” he said. “We can win big at LSU.”
And that could happen now. Fifth-year senior point guard Donovan Dent, another UCLA transfer, looked SEC ready immediately in three exhibition games. So did his former UCLA teammate – fifth-year senior Skyy Clark, who is a three-point ace, as did Kansas State senior transfer guard Abdi Bashir Jr. (6-5, 170).
And freshman 7-foot center Michael Ruzic, formerly of the Joventut pro team in Spain, was particularly impressive.
“He’s going to be a phenomenal player,” Wade said. “He already is.”
Senior forward transfer Mouhamed Dioubate (6-7, 235) will add veteran depth at his third SEC school after Kentucky and Alabama.
Michigan State junior transfer guard Divine Ugochukwu started for the Spartans until breaking a bone in his foot in February. He shot 44.2 percent from three-point range.
“We’ve got an older, veteran and big team,” Wade said. “And we’ve got kids from all over the world. Sure, it’s going to take us some time to grow and come together. But we’re going to contend now.”
And then.
“I believe that eventually we can win a national championship at LSU,” he said. “That’s the goal, and that’s why we came back.”
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