Matt McMahon confirms Mwani Wilkinson injury is season-ending

LSU will be without one of its forwards for the rest of the 2022-23 season, after a Mwani Wilkinson injury proved too much to overcome.

Wikinson, a 6-foot-5 junior, had done his best to play through a shoulder injury. But recent changes have made it necessary for him to have surgery on the shoulder, effectively ending his junior campaign.

Coach Matt McMahon confirmed that bit of news on Tuesday.

“Yes, Mwani will definitely be out for the remainder of the year,” McMahon said. “Heartbroken for him. I have a tremendous amount of admiration for him as a teammate, as a leader, really as a warrior.”

Prior to his season-ending injury, Wilkinson had averaged 2.6 points and 1.6 rebounds per game while getting 13.1 minutes per contest.

The Tigers likely won’t have a terribly difficult time replacing that production, but replacing Wilkinson’s tenacious demeanor could prove more tricky. McMahon raved about Wilkinson’s character.

“He was a guy who wanted to be at LSU through some challenging circumstances in the spring,” McMahon said. “I thought he had a terrific summer. Great fall. There was a time during the preseason where he injured his shooting shoulder. Wanted to battle through and I thought really competed to do so. It’s just reached a point where it’s counterproductive and it was time for him to go ahead and have the season-ending surgery and work toward getting back to 100%.”

Mwani Wilkinson injury puts even more onus on guards rebounding down

One thing LSU had been focused on prior to the Mwani Wilkinson injury becoming a season-ending one was rebounding by the guards.

The Tigers have been outrebounded by opponents’ backcourts routinely. With another decent rebounding presence gone, that emphasis will have to be renewed again.

“We’ve got quite a few guards who average between one and two rebounds a game,” McMahon said recently. “That’s not gonna be good enough for us. We did a much better job there.”

LSU will return to action on Wednesday night against Auburn, with that game scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN2.