Coach Will Wade’s basketball roster at LSU is practically complete after a tumultuous offseason centered on eligibility.
The team website listed all 14 players expected to join the team on Wednesday. This comes after it listed four players starting in June and then 10 players after it played its McNeese State exhibition game Oct. 8.
The newest additions on the public roster are 23-year-old French center Brice Dessert, 22-year-old Italian-Senegalese wing Saliou Niang, 24-year-old Israeli center Gilad Levy and fifth-year UCLA transfer guard Skyy Clark.
Wade said after the 63-60 McNeese win, in which he played seven players, that his full team will be dangerous in the Southeastern Conference.
“I mean, we’re about to be loaded up here now,” he said. “Better watch out.”
The NCAA cleared Dessert and Niang to play for LSU on Tuesday. Levy is expected to have the same result as his overseas teammates, but there is paperwork still left to be taken care of, a source with knowledge of the program told The Advocate. Levy, who is 7-foot-3, was the last player to commit to the program Aug. 25 and likely won’t be able to participate in LSU’s final exhibition game at noon Saturday against Florida State on the road.
Clark obtained eligibility last Friday through a temporary injunction for a fifth year in a Kentucky lawsuit, Wells v. NCAA. While he was among the original plaintiffs in the same California eligibility lawsuit that fellow UCLA transfer and LSU teammate Donovan Dent is a part of, he signed a request for partial dismissal without prejudice Aug. 13, according to court documents.
Wade previously had former St. John’s star RJ Luis signed and among the 15 players he had practicing with LSU since Sept. 2. Although he received a preliminary injunction to play, Wade said during SEC media day that Luis isn’t on the roster after the SEC implemented rules that would enact severe penalties on the program if he played.
The first four players LSU announced on June 11 were college transfers that didn’t need a fifth year of eligibility through the courts. Those players were senior guard Abdi Bashir (Kansas State), junior guard Divine Ugochukwu (Michigan State), senior forward Mo Dioubate (Kentucky) and senior guard Austin Nunez (UTSA).
The next scholarship players that followed were fifth-year point guard Dent and 20-year-old Croatian center Michael Ruzic. Dent was eligible to play through a temporary restraining order since Aug. 18 and on Tuesday was among a group of more than 70 plaintiffs granted a preliminary injunction in his age-based eligibility lawsuit filed in California. Ruzic, a 7-foot big, was cleared by the NCAA a few hours before the Tigers took the floor at McNeese.
The four remaining players on the roster are likely walk-ons: freshmen forward Jordan Bender, center Strake Pearson and guard Bradley Fife, all unranked high school recruits, and senior Luke Stansbury, son of LSU associate head coach Rick Stansbury. Luke Stansbury played in 10 games at Stephen F. Austin from 2023-25.
After LSU’s last exhibition game at Florida State, it will play its regular season opener against LSU New Orleans on Nov. 3 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
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