It’s another homecoming for LSU basketball as Tulane’s Jalen Cook commits to Tigers

In assessing his team minutes after a season-ending loss to Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference tournament, LSU coach Matt McMahon quickly got to the Tigers’ most glaring issue in a 14-19 campaign.

“At the end of the day in college basketball, you’ve got to have elite guard play,” McMahon said that night, strongly indicating he’d be scouring the transfer portal for help at that position.

His month-long search produced one of the top players in the transfer portal Friday morning when former LSU and Tulane point guard Jalen Cook made this announcement via Twitter: “I’M BACK.”

Cook was shown wearing a home LSU uniform with the No. 3 on it, the number the former Walker High School star wore as a freshman with the Tigers in the 2020-21 season.

The 6-foot, 205-pound Cook becomes the second Louisiana native to commit to McMahon in three days.

On Wednesday, former Vanderbilt wing Jordan Wright, who played for The Dunham School, announced he was coming home to play for the Tigers as a graduate student.

Cook saw limited action in his only season at LSU. He appeared in 20 games with no starts, averaging 7.5 minutes, 3.1 points and 0.8 assists.

After entering the transfer portal and signing with Tulane, Cook quickly became one of the nation’s top mid-major guards for coach Ron Hunter.

The Gatorade Player of the Year and Mr. Louisiana Basketball in 2019 earned first-team All-American Athletic Conference honors in each of his two seasons at Tulane.

In his first season there, he averaged 18.0 points and 3.5 assists before averaging 19.8 points, 4.9 assists and 1.8 steals this past season in leading Tulane to a 20-11 record and to the semifinals of the AAC tournament.

Cook’s junior season got off to a rough start because of a hamstring injury, but he still shot 45.2% from the field overall — 52.5% from inside the 3-point arc — and 84.5% from the free-throw line.

He poured in a career-high 30 points with eight 3-point field goals in an 83-76 loss to Wichita State and his 14 assists in a 101-94 victory over Cincinnati was also a career-best.