| From the left: Photo of Will Wade with the bayou bandits. Photo of Bill Armstrong with the 2026-27 bayou banditsPhoto credits: Raymond Stewart, Leah Kelly |
| By Wyatt Junkmann The Poke Press Former McNeese Men’s Basketball Head Coach, Will Wade, and the LSU Tigers will drive down I-10 to Lake Charles to face off against former Wade disciple, Bill Armstrong and the Bayou Bandits Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Townsley Law Arena. One of the biggest athletics programs in the state and last year’s highest ranked men’s basketball team in the NCAA will battle in an exhibition game to help gear up the players for the 2026-2027 NCAA Men’s Basketball season. The matchup comes after the 2025 ruling by the NCAA that allows D1 NCAA organizations to take part in exhibition events starting in the 2025-2026 season. Last year, both teams played an exhibition match with McNeese facing Grambling State and LSU playing the University of Central Florida. Last season did not go as planned for the LSU Tigers, who finished 15-17 overall and 3-15 in SEC play under former LSU head coach Matt McMahon, who was in his fourth season with the Tigers. Ironically, it was McMahon who took over for Wade after it was reported he had received five Level I NCAA violations, causing the Tigers to dismiss him. After his time at LSU, Wade bounced around to different programs in the country, which also included time at McNeese. Wade brought McNeese into the spotlight; the Cowboys had not had a winning record in a season since the 2011-2012 season. In 2023-2024, Wade helped rebrand the team as the Bayou Bandits and led them to a 30-4 winning season, followed with a record of 28-7 for the 2024-2025 season and McNeese’s first NCAA March Madness victory in a 69-67 win over the Clemson Tigers. After his success with McNeese, Wade took the head coaching job at NC State, where he improved their record from the previous year. Seeing what Wade was doing with Mid-Major programs, and needing a head coach of their own, LSU hired Wade back for the 2026-2027 Men’s Basketball team. Bill Armstrong took over the team after Wade with a much different story to tell. Armstrong has spent time at programs such as Ole Miss, Baylor and LSU, where he worked under Wade. Between his time at LSU and Baylor, Armstrong coached at Link Academy, a high school in Branson, Missouri. Armstrong helped recruit for LSU and Ole Miss, providing those programs with multiple high-end talents such as first-round NBA draft picks in 2021 and 2022, and All-SEC players during his time at Ole Miss. After two seasons with Link Academy, Armstrong was hired by Baylor and helped the program make it to the second round in the 2024-2025 season. McNeese later hired Armstrong for the head coaching position. The standard did not change from Will to Bill, as Bill Armstrong led the team to a 28-6 record last season and brought McNeese to their third straight Southland Conference Championship, before getting knocked out in the first round against Vanderbilt 68-78. Last season was highlighted by the breakout star Larry Johnson, a four-star freshman from Georgia who transferred to McNeese. Johnson was named a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award, an award given to the best freshman in D1 basketball. Johnson went on to be named 1st Team All-SLC, SLC All-Tournament Team and SLC Freshman of the Year,breaking McNeese legend Joe Dumar’s 44-year-old record of the most total points scored by a freshman by 40 points. He ranked 8th in the country in scores among freshmen and 80th overall in the nation. Armstrong had brought in a sleeping giant, to which McNeese was greatly rewarded. Johnson helped add to an already strong offense with Javohn Garcia, DJ Richards, and Tyshawn Archie, complemented by a defense including Garwey Dual, Jerrell Colbert and Carl Cherenfant. With these standout players, it was no surprise that this team was dominant on both sides of the ball, but this could not be maintained. Garcia and Richards had run out of eligibility to compete in the NCAA, Archie transferred to Texas A&M and Dual transferred to Syracuse leaving Armstrong to fill these important holes left in the roster. Armstrong was faced with bringing in new talent to fill those voids left by the departing players. McNeese retained Larry Johnson and Carl Cherenfant while adding others such as Christian Nitu and Jaylon Dean-Vines who both transferred from Vanderbilt. These young players brought in to reload the roster have brought great optimism to the team. “We brought in six transfers that were at the high-major level because of their talent, for whatever reason it didn’t work out for them, which is a benefit to us,” Armstrong said. “We’re excited that they’re all here, and that talent has been shown each and every day at practice by all of them, and certainly excited about them having the opportunity to go up against someone else and show what they can do together playing for McNeese.” Will Wade is not the only familiar face now a part of LSU, as former McNeese Athletic Director Heath Schroyer and former McNeese President Dr. Wade Rousse are now also a part of the LSU program. These three men helped shape McNeese as it stands today, and their roles at LSU add another layer to the in-state rivalry ahead of Thursday’s match. The optimism for McNeese to pull off a victory is reasonable. While these are two different teams from last year, McNeese was ranked in the top 60 teams in the NET ranking, the highest Louisiana men’s basketball program. LSU is yet to announce their roster but looks to improve off their 75th place NET ranking with Will Wade at the helm. LSU is undefeated against McNeese in the 12 games that they’ve met, with the last meeting between the two programs in 2021, prior to Wade’s departure. With the reconstruction of McNeese as a high tier Mid-Major, can McNeese prove to college sports media that this is a team that can fight for an at-Large spot in the NCAA? Find out tonight at Townsley Law Arena, 6:30 pm, where the Bill vs Will Showdown Presented by Navarre Chevrolet will commence! |
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