LSU is about to find out a lot about itself.
Will Wade’s team opens the 2026-27 season Tuesday night against LSU New Orleans at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, and the early buzz around this roster comes with a handful of real questions attached. The Tigers looked promising in the preseason, but the answers won’t come from reputation. They’ll come from how this group handles the jump into the real thing.
One of the biggest unknowns is how LSU’s international newcomers settle in once the games count. Three of Wade’s four international players were getting their first taste of college basketball, and the first exhibition offered a mixed preview.
Saliou Niang and Brice Dessert both started in LSU’s 89-87 loss to Florida State, but neither made a loud first impression. Niang scored five points on 2-of-3 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds in 24 minutes.
Dessert finished with four points on 2-of-2 shooting, two rebounds and three turnovers in 16 minutes.
Mo Dioubate thinks that adjustment will come.
“Last game, Brice, it was his first time playing like in a collegiate game,” Dioubate said. “He kinda struggled at first a little bit with pace and everything.
But you know, I think he picked it up towards the second half of the game. Sal, he's been really good in practice, and I think it's a matter of time.”
Michael Ruzic, meanwhile, looked more settled in the three exhibitions. The 7-foot center played well throughout the preseason, giving LSU a different kind of option in the middle.
That brings Wade to another major decision: who starts at center. His choices are Ruzic and Dessert, and the contrast between them is obvious.
Ruzic is the more polished offensive player, a 20-year-old 7-footer who can space the floor as a shooter and handle the ball well enough to create for himself and others. He also added 15 pounds to get to 235, and that extra strength showed in the preseason as he rebounded and defended better than he did in Spain.
Dessert brings a different kind of edge. At 7-foot and 255 pounds, the 23-year-old is the more imposing physical presence and has more pro experience. He doesn’t offer the same passing or ball-handling touch, but he can finish above the rim and use his size to challenge the strongest bigs in the Southeastern Conference.
Wade still hasn’t settled on a starter. Against Florida State, he went with Dessert because the matchup called for it against Marcis Ponder, who is 7-foot and 285 pounds.
If LSU is going to hit its ceiling, Donovan Dent will almost certainly be at the center of it. The point guard landed on the watch list for the 2027 Bob Cousy Award, which honors the top point guards in Division I, and he arrives with the kind of skill set that can tilt a game fast.
Dent is a gifted dribbler, passer and finisher around the rim. Last season at UCLA, he averaged 13.3 points on 49.0% shooting, along with 7.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.
The early signs in Baton Rouge have been even better. In three exhibitions, Dent averaged 19 points and seven assists. He came within a rebound of a triple-double and delivered the go-ahead basket in LSU’s 85-81 win over Central Florida.
Wade will need that level of play from him. Dent didn’t make the All-SEC preseason team, but LSU’s offense has the look of something that could make him one of the league’s most dangerous guards. The comparison that comes to mind is former LSU star Tremont Waters, one of Wade’s best point guards.
The Tigers also have to prove they can shoot well enough around him. Skyy Clark and Abid Bashir give LSU two proven threats.
Clark, a fifth-year guard, and Bashir, a senior, both showed they can keep shooting at a 40% clip from deep after doing it last season. Clark was electric in his lone preseason outing, drilling 7 of 12 from 3-point range on the way to 21 points against Florida State.
Bashir was just as sharp in LSU’s win over UCF, hitting 6 of 12 from beyond the arc and finishing with 26 points.
After those two, though, the picture gets murkier. Ruzic has some perimeter ability, but he still has to show he can build on the 29.1% he shot from 3-point range in 47 professional games last season. The rest of the roster doesn’t carry the same reputation from outside.
That shooting question extends to the foul line, too. LSU did a good job getting to the stripe in the exhibitions, but the results weren’t there. The Tigers made just 45 of 76 free throws, a 59.2% mark.
All of that feeds into the final question hanging over this team: how high can LSU go?
Since returning to Baton Rouge, Wade has made it clear he didn’t come back just to win the way he did before. He wants LSU to become a true powerhouse, and that means more than an SEC title. His stated goal is the program’s first national championship.
He hasn’t said directly whether this season is the one that can get there, but he has said the roster is good enough to win at a high level. LSU enters the opener with all but one player, Gilad Levy, eligible, and there’s a feeling inside the program that the Tigers will beat their 14th-place projection in the SEC preseason poll.
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