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Jalen Cook Makes Official His Return To LSU Basketball

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Jalen Cook Makes Official His Return To LSU Basketball

BATON ROUGE – Jalen Cook, a point guard from nearby Walker, Louisiana, has officially completed his transfer return to LSU to join Coach Matt McMahon and the Tigers basketball program.

Cook, who was a first-team All-American Athletic Conference selection in the last two seasons with Tulane, played for the Tigers as a freshman in the 2020-21 basketball season.

Cook averaged 19.9 points and 4.9 assists during the 2022-23 season, ranking second in the AAC in scoring and fourth in the league in assists average. The season included eight straight consecutive games with 20 or more points, including 30-point efforts against Wichita State and South Florida.

This past year, he made 57 three-pointers and shot 84.5 percent from the free throw line (93-of-110).

In his first year with the Green Wave (2021-22), Cook averaged 18.0 points and 3.5 assists, also finishing second in the AAC in scoring and scoring in double figures in 22 games.

“We are excited to welcome Jalen Cook back to LSU,” said Coach McMahon. “Jalen is an electric guard who brings proven scoring and playmaking ability to Baton Rouge. I love his passion for LSU and his desire to represent our program. I look forward to the opportunity to coach him in the purple and gold.”

As a freshman at LSU, Cook played in 20 games playing behind All-SEC guards Cam Thomas and Javonte Smart. He averaged 3.1 points a game.

In his three years of college basketball, he has scored 1,011 points with 228 assists with 116 three-pointers in 70 career games between LSU and Tulane.

Cook helped Walker High School to the Class 5A Louisiana High School Athletic Association basketball title as a sophomore in 2018, the championship game in 2019 and the semifinals in 2020. He averaged 29.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists as a junior and 29.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a senior in 2020, finishing his career with over 3,200 points.

He was a four-star recruit listed as the No. 2 prospect in the state of Louisiana after his senior season and No. 16 in the nation at the position. After his junior season, Cook won the Farm Bureau/Mr. Basketball Award by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, the USA Today Louisiana Player of the Year award and the Gatorade Louisiana Player of the Year. He was also voted The Advocate’s All-Metro and Class 5A MVP in 2019.

He was named to the All-Metro team and first-team All-State as a senior in 2020.

Cook also played football at Walker High School where he was a three-star prospect as a wide receiver/defensive back and rated No. 20 among Louisiana’s top 2020 football prospects. He received several Division I offers from major schools before deciding to fully commit to college basketball.

Cook joins Louisiana native and Vanderbilt Commodore Jordan Wright as new members of the Tiger team for 2023-24 along with fall high school signees Corey Chest (Link Academy-Branson, Missouri) from New Orleans and Mike Williams (Bishop Walsh High School) from Baltimore, Maryland.