LSU formalizes coach Will Wade’s first four players on the official 2026-27 roster

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU now has four players on its official men’s basketball roster for next season after officially announcing their signings on Thursday.

Kansas State transfer Abdi Bashir, Kentucky transfer Mo Dioubate, UTSA transfer Austin Nunez and Michigan State transfer Divine Ugochukwu are now enrolled and on campus as coach Will Wade prepares for the first season of his second stint with the Tigers.

The roster announcements came a day after N.C. State confirmed it is investigating potential legal claims into how LSU lured Wade away from the Wolfpack.

The 6-foot-7 Bashir averaged 13.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 turnovers in 18 games at guard last season, hitting 44.4% of his 3-point attempts.

“Abdi Bashir will be a good addition to our LSU basketball program because of his elite shooting ability,” coach Wade said in a statement.

Bashir, who also played two seasons at Monmouth before moving to Kansas State in 2025, has “elite shooting ability,” and will be “an important part of our perimeter moving forward,” Wade said.

The 6-2 Nunez, who also played at Mississippi and Arizona State, averaged 9.8 points, 2.8 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 2 turnovers at UTSA last season.

Wade said Nunez “has great experience running a team on both ends of the floor at a high level,” and “brings valuable situational awareness to our program.”

Wade highlighted the 6-3 Ugochukwu’s experience at both point and shooting guard. He averaged 5.1 points, 1.5 assists and 0.7 turnovers in 16.1 minutes per game at Michigan State last season after transferring from Miami.

The 6-7 Dioubate publicly announced his intent to play at LSU in late April. He averaged 8.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game at Kentucky last season after spending his first two college seasons at Alabama.

“He is a physical competitor who has an ability to make good decisions at the right time,” Wade said, highlighting Dioubate’s experience guarding “all five positions” at the college level.

Wade reportedly is also in the process of adding several experienced international players, some of whom could require NCAA waivers because of their affiliations with professional clubs overseas. They include: 25-year-old Israeli pro Yam Madar; 23-year-old EuroLeague pro Brice Dessert of France; 23-year-old EuroLeague player Marcio Santos of Brazil; 22‑year‑old wing Saliou Niang of Italy; and 19‑year‑old forward Michael Ruzic of Croatia.

Also agreeing to play at LSU — if permitted by the NCAA — is 23-year-old former St. John’s standout RJ Luis. The 6-7 Luis declared for the NBA draft in 2025 after being named the Big East player of the year. After going undrafted, he signed a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz and was traded to the Boston Celtics. However, Luis never appeared in a game in either the NBA or the G League, and that is expected to be element of his argument as to why the NCAA should allow him to suit up for Wade’s Tigers.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball