Matt McMahon continued to add important pieces to his second LSU basketball team when the program picked up a third veteran player from the transfer portal Friday.
The latest to commit to the Tigers’ program is former Nevada center Will Baker, a 7-foot, 245-pounder who was a third-team All-Mountain West Conference pick this past season.
In the past 10 days, McMahon added a point guard in Jalen Cook, a shooting guard in Jordan Wright, and now a much-needed big man as he rebuilds the roster after a disappointing 14-19 campaign.
While he knew the transfer portal would be vital to getting his program on track, McMahon hinted that he wanted to bring in more experienced players this offseason.
He’s done that as Cook, Wright and Baker have combined to play 280 games with 181 starts.
A native of Austin, Texas, Baker started his career with the hometown Texas Longhorns, but played sparingly and transferred after one season to Nevada — where he blossomed the past two seasons.
He averaged 11.5 points and 4.9 rebounds in 2022, then improved to 13.6 points and 5.2 rebounds this past season in helping the Wolfpack to a 22-11 record and an NCAA tournament berth.
Baker had a career-high 28 points in a 97-94 double-overtime win over then No. 25 New Mexico on Jan. 23 and also had a career-best 11 rebounds against the Lobos in 2022.
He started all 32 games he played in last season and shot 56.0% from the field — 35.5% from 3-point range and 61.7% on his two-point attempts. He also shot 84.2% from the free-throw line.
A four-star recruit in 2019, Baker was ranked as the No. 35 player nationally in the 247Sports composite listing.
His size should help shore up LSU’s offense and defense down low, where the Tigers basically had just a pair of 6-9 forwards in KJ Williams and Derek Fountain last season.
Williams, a second-team All-Southeastern Conference selection who exhausted his eligibility, often played away from the basket as an effective outside shooter; Fountain was foul-prone with a team-high 83 personals and three foul-outs.
McMahon isn’t finished with the transfer portal just yet.
Baker visited the LSU campus last weekend with 6-8 Wofford forward B.J. Mack, who could add more scoring and rebounding to the lineup. He had 18 points and nine rebounds in a 78-75 loss to LSU last Nov. 27.
Last week, Mack tweeted he had narrowed his list of potential landing spots to Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, South Carolina and LSU.
Also, a tweet from Syracuse guard Joe Girard on Friday morning indicated he’s in town this weekend.
LSU is also believed to be interested in 6-10 North Texas forward Abou Ousmane, who helped the Mean Green win the NIT last month.
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