As LSU basketball head coach Matt McMahon slowly begins to reshape his roster for the 2025 season, the Tigers received some excellent news, as star power forward Jalen Reed will officially be returning to the purple and gold for his senior season.
Rising senior power forward Jalen Reed set to return for another season with LSU basketball
In today’s era of college basketball, in many ways, the transfer portal somewhat runs things. Fans are seemingly always waiting and watching for their team’s next move, particularly as far as the portal is concerned.
That said, while it may still be the flashy new thing, it might not always be the most consistent form of finding success.
Take LSU basketball, for instance. Since head coach Matt McMahon first made his way to Baton Rouge, LA, in early 2022, the Tigers have brought in a whopping 15 transfers.
LSU has won a total of 14 SEC games in that same stretch.
Now don’t get me wrong, the transfer portal can be incredibly helpful, especially when trying to make a quick turnaround. That said, if the last four or so years have shown us anything, it’s that it’s most helpful when you’re able to find a good mix of former recruits, as well as transfers that blend into a culture representative of your individual program.
With that, while we know Matt McMahon will at least make some moves in the portal, it’s likely even more important that the Tigers are officially getting back what might be their best player on roster: junior forward Jalen Reed.
A former top 100 recruit in the class of 2022, Jalen Reed entered the 2024-2025 basketball season with some of, if not the highest expectations in the entire purple and gold program. Entering his third season in Baton Rouge, the 6-foot-10, 240-pound power forward was coming off a sophomore season where he averaged 7.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game.
While the stats won’t pop out in particular, it was the growth he showed coming away from his freshman season that was most impressive. Improving in just about every stat category, the potential was finally beginning to shine through.
That’s what made it so notable when he showed even more improvement at the start of his junior season, logging 11.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.0 block per game, all while shooting the ball at an impressive 60.4 percent from the field in his first eight games. Unfortunately, that would end up being all we saw from the junior, as he’d go down with an injury in early December vs. Florida State.
Now, as we look ahead to what will be his true senior season in 2025, Jalen Reed will officially be back, and while it might not be the flashiest land for head coach Matt McMahon, it very well might be one of the most important when the offseason is all said and done.
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