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Mwani Wilkinson announces return to LSU Basketball for junior season

by Kent Lowe
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Mwani Wilkinson announces return to LSU Basketball for junior season

BATON ROUGE – Mwani Wilkinson, who played 61 games for LSU over the past two seasons, has announced that he has withdrawn from the transfer portal and will return for his junior season with the Tigers.

Wilkinson, from Las Vegas, Nevada, has been a part of NCAA Tournament teams in both 2021 and 2022 for LSU.

This past season, Wilkinson appeared in all 34 games with 30 starts. He averaged 4.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game. The third double-figure game of his career came against Lipscomb (12/22), scoring 11 points (5-of-7 from the field). Wilkinson scored eight points in the SEC Tournament game against Arkansas (3/11) and 8 in the NCAA Tournament game against Iowa State (3/18).

Wilkinson made 25 three-pointers, shooting 40.3 percent from distance. He had six steals in the season opener with two blocks and three assists against ULM (11/9). He also had five steals versus Belmont (11/22) and four against McNeese (11/18).

He averaged 24.2 minutes per game.

As a freshman in 2020-21, he averaged 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds with 12 points against Southeastern Louisiana (11/30) and 11 versus Arkansas (1/13). He was 5-of-8 from the field against Southeastern and 4-of-4 with a trey against Arkansas. For the season he hit a strong 40-of-51 from the field (78.4%).

Wilkinson joins a roster that Coach Matt McMahon has begun to shape at LSU for the 2022-23 season, including Murray State transfers Justice Hill and Trae Hannibal along with Kendal Coleman from Northwestern State.