LSU G Eric Gaines, C Efton Reid III enter transfer portal
LSU's men's basketball roster took another pair of big hits Thursday.
Sophomore guard Eric Gaines and freshman center Efton Reid III became the latest to players to enter the transfer portal, bringing the total to nine Tigers in the past eight days.
The apparent departure of that duo also leaves sophomore forward Mwani Wilkinson and freshman forward Alex Fudge to have appeared in more than five games this past season or played more than 26 minutes.
Gaines and Reed join guards Brandon Murray and Xavier Pinson on Thursday, forward Shareef O'Neal on Monday, center Jerrell Colbert and guard Adam Miller on Tuesday and forward Bradley Ezewiro and guard Justice Williams on Wednesday.
Forwards Tari Eason and Darius Days also declared their plans to enter the 2022 NBA Draft on Friday and Wednesday, respectively.
Those 11 players accounted for 5,588 of the Tigers' 6,850 minutes (81.6%) this past season, including 2,223 of their 2,467 points (90.1%), 1,063 of their 1,257 rebounds (84.6%) and 391 of their 431 assists (90.7%).
The 6-foot-2, 150-pound Gaines finished his second season in Baton Rouge with averages of 9.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest.
The 7-foot, 238-pound Reid provided 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds points per game.
LSU received a notice of allegations from the NCAA's Complex Case Case Unit two weeks ago and terminated coach Will Wade and associate head coach Bill Armstrong days later.
A full scope of what further recruiting, roster or postseason sanctions or restrictions could affect the program remains to undetermined.
The university announced the hiring of Matt McMahon on Monday and held an introductory press conference last Wednesday.
The former Murray State coach repeatedly emphasized his priority on building relationships with players, including when asked about "re-recruiting" members of the current roster to potentially remain in Baton Rouge.
"That's the most important thing here and we've hit the ground running," McMahon said. "We're gonna invest a lot of time with our players. I want people who want to be here, want people who want to be a part of something special because that's what we're gonna build here."
So far, McMahon and the Tigers have added Northwestern State center Kendal Coleman, Murray State guard Justice Hill and Moravian Prep (N.C.) big man Corneilus Williams as they begin rebuilding the roster for 2022.