Matt McMahon gushes about pride in Cam Hayes

LSU guard Cam Hayes has truly evolved throughout the first third of the season, going from logging two minutes and zero stats in the team’s first game to playing in 28 minutes and scoring a season-high 14 points in their last game. Tigers’ head coach Matt McMahon spoke about Hayes and his growth and increased role throughout the season so far.

“Well I’m really proud of him, I think he’s worked extremely hard I think it’s a great lesson for everyone on the team,” McMahon said. “Coming out of the fall preseason and so forth he was further down in the rotation, didn’t get down, continued to work hard.”

Hayes transferred to LSU from NC State this offseason, where he averaged seven points in each of his two seasons with the Wolfpack. He’s currently averaging seven points with the Tigers as well, but has improved in other areas of his game that have earned him more minutes on the floor, including his first career start for LSU on Tuesday against NC Central.

“I think he’s really practiced well, started to see a lot of improvement in practice, not just on the offense end of the floor but especially on the defensive end,” McMahon said. “And I think he’s really made a commitment to improving his shot selection and limiting his turnovers and is playing at a high level.”

Hayes’ ability to make the most of his minutes this year has led to him earning more of them, as he’s provided a lot of much needed production in specific areas that the Tigers’ have been looking for all season long.

“He’s been our most efficient guard by the numbers and you look at his performance on Saturday, not only the scoring, but six assists, zero turnovers in an area we’ve really been searching for rebounding at the guard position, he gets five rebounds for us there,” McMahon said.

In LSU’s last two games, Hayes has logged the most minutes, points, and rebounds than he has all season, and it will definitely be interesting to see if that trend remains the same going forward this season.

“So excited about what he’s brought to the team and look forward to seeing his role continue to increase,” McMahon said.

Hayes and the Tigers continue their four-game home stand this weekend as they take on Winthrop on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET airing on SEC Network.