LSU Basketball: "McMahon Watch" begins after another season with 3 SEC wins

LSU Basketball was the No. 16 seed at the 2026 SEC Tournament in Nashville, and with 16 teams in the conference, the Tigers entered the postseason as the program at the bottom of the standings.

On Wednesday, LSU and Kentucky went back-and-forth in a high-scoring first half before the Wildcats pulled away with a double-digit lead in the second half.

The Tigers trimmed the deficit multiple times, but ultimately Kentucky was able to keep a determined LSU team from getting within striking distance in an 87-82 win.

For Kentucky, it’s another SEC Tournament game before all eyes turn to the NCAA Tournament.

For LSU, the season is over.

The storyline the 2025-26 season being complete now brings to the forefront: what is the future for LSU head coach Matt McMahon?

When the Will Wade era ended in Baton Rouge, McMahon was hired to take over a team with no scholarship players on roster following a mass exodus of Tigers into the portal. And the hire was a notable one for LSU in a time of uncertainty. McMahon was one of the top names among mid-major head coaches.

Prior to being hired by LSU, he led Murray State to an 18-0 season in the Ohio Valley Conference, a 31-3 overall record and an appearance in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. After knocking off a talented San Francisco team, McMahon and Murray State fell to a St. Peter’s program that would go on to the Elite 8 and providing one of the more memorable runs by a No. 15 seed across the past decade.

McMahon’s first season was a patchwork group of transfers on one returning player, so expectations were low in a year when the Tigers won just two games in SEC play.

In Year 2, LSU was much improved. At 17-16 overall and 9-9 in SEC play, it was a solid turnaround from the year prior.

Unfortunately for McMahon, it still stands as his best season as head coach in Baton Rouge.

In Year 3, LSU finished 14-18 overall and 3-15 in SEC play.

The program was able to boost the NIL investment this offseason and land transfers turned starters in purple-and-gold, and while injuries to starters certainly put the Tigers behind the 8-ball, the results were the same.

With Year 4 of McMahon’s tenure complete, it’s another losing season (15-16) and just three wins in 18 SEC games played.

That’s a combined six SEC wins across LSU’s 30 conference games the past two seasons.

Whether McMahon stays in Baton Rouge beyond this season or the Tigers transition from searching for a new football head coach to finding a new basketball head coach remains to be seen.

And beyond talk of injuries and lack of NIL investments relative to other SEC teams, which are fair talking points when discussing the program’s struggles, a 60–69 (.465) overall record and 17–55 (.236) SEC record in four years as head coach is a tough pill to swallow.

Now, all eyes are on LSU Athletics Director Verge Ausberry and the powers that be to see if more change is coming to LSU Athletics after a football season that brought plenty of shakeup to campus.