There’s no doubt that the 2024 Tiger basketball season was a vast improvement over year one under LSU basketball coach Matt McMahon. With that said, it wasn’t without its downsides. Following the purple and gold NIT loss vs. North Texas, coach McMahon took some time to discuss his plans for the program heading into 2025.

LSU basketball coach Matt McMahon has his eyes on the prize in 2025

After starting the 2023 regular season 12-12, the rumblings were slowly starting to turn into a roar. LSU basketball fans expected more, and the thought of two straight losing seasons in a row was not sitting well.

As it turned out, both LSU basketball coach Matt McMahon and his squad shared a similar sentiment. The team would go on to finish the regular season on a 5-2 run, showing everyone outside of the program that the Tigers were moving in the right direction.

The team would end up competing in the NIT, and despite the first round loss, the group showed their willingness to put in the work to see improvement. Now, it’s just a matter of continuing said improvement all the way to the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

When asked about the future of the program following Tuesday’s disappointing outing, the Tiger head coach didn’t hold back when discussing what the offseason would look like.

“The NIT’s not the tournament we strive to play in here at LSU,” LSU basketball coach Matt McMahon began. “So, we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to build. We’ve got to keep building. That’s what this offseason will be about, to keep building the program and to take the next step, which for us is getting to the NCAA Tournament next year.”

In year one of his tenure, the purple and gold ended up with a tough 14-19 record, earning just two wins in conference play. The rebuild was never going to be easy and that first season only further showed it.

However, after increasing their SEC win total by seven in just one season, things are moving in the right direction. In turn, it has everyone within the program ready to see where things go, particularly when it comes to a potential run at some 2025 March Madness.

“I’m excited to get to our player development program this spring, we’re excited to keep recruiting and keep building our program.”

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