LSU’s coaching staff is full up again, even if Will Wade is still hunting for more help on the roster.
The Tigers added Mark Hsu as an assistant coach, giving Wade the maximum of five assistants and bringing the overall staff count to six. LSU’s roster remains at 10 players while the program waits on NCAA eligibility clearance, but the staff side is now completely built out.
Hsu, pronounced like shoe, had already been around the program since LSU’s Oct. 8 exhibition opener at McNeese State, a 63-60 Tigers win. The hire wasn’t announced then, and with all the attention on the roster, he largely slipped through unnoticed until he showed up again in Wednesday night’s 85-81 exhibition victory over Central Florida at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU later confirmed the addition.
Hsu’s path to Baton Rouge includes stops all over college basketball. He was an assistant at DePaul from 2019 through 2021, and before that worked at Western Kentucky from 2017-19 under Rick Stansbury. His résumé also includes coaching stops at Binghamton, Texas Southern, California State-Bakersfield and New Mexico State.
His biographical information says he has been out of college coaching for the last five years. Hsu is 43.
The rest of Wade’s assistant group is loaded with familiar names: Stansbury, former LSU head coach Johnny Jones, former Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire, and Vernon Hamilton, who worked with Wade at McNeese State and North Carolina State.
Hsu played at Cabrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania, in the early 2000s and served as a volunteer assistant there in the 2003-04 season.
In Other News...
LSU's Bigger Worry After This Win Is Hard To Ignore
LSUs exhibition win over Central Florida offered a useful snapshot of where Will Wades roster stands heading into the season: capable of scoring, competitive even while short-handed, but still waiting on the kind of full lineup that can make the Tigers hard to judge. The 85-81 result came with LSU using fewer players than it expects to have once the regular season begins, and senior transfer Abdi Bashir Jr. helped carry the offense with 26 points while point guard Donovan Dent added 21 points and 11 assists.
The broader concern is less about the result than the unfinished nature of the roster this close to November 3. Wade said he is hopeful LSU will have additional players cleared by the NCAA before the opener, which would change both the depth chart and the way this team can be evaluated. Until then, the Tigers are left leaning on a thin rotation and waiting to see whether the version they roll out for the regular season looks anything like the one fans expect to watch. [Read more 🡒]
LSUs Mississippi State Outlook Suddenly Hinges On One Huge Unknown
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For Mississippi State, the spotlight lands on quarterback Kamario Taylor, whose foot injury has him questionable heading into Friday. His status is the biggest variable in the game and the one that could shape how the Bulldogs approach LSU, making the next update feel especially important for both teams as they prepare for a meeting with plenty still unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Showed Promise But One Late Issue Still Looks Costly
UCF came away with plenty to like from its exhibition trip to the Maravich Assembly Center, where the Knights pushed LSU deep into the closing minutes before falling 85-81. Dior Johnson led UCF with 18 points in a game that stayed tight throughout, while LSU leaned on Abdi Bashir, who finished with 26 to help keep the Tigers afloat when the action tightened.
What stood out for LSU was not just the scoring punch, but the way the game settled into a late-possession fight, exactly the kind of stress test both teams wanted in October. UCF had enough shot-making to stay level, yet one costly late sequence swung the result, leaving the Knights with encouragement and a reminder that the smallest mistakes can decide these exhibition games. [Read more 🡒]