Matt McMahon pressed for further comment on Tyrell Ward's departure from LSU

It was announced prior to LSU’s opener last night that Tyrell Ward would be stepping away from the program. With that, Matt McMahon addressed the matter again following the final buzzer.

As far as Ward, McMahon left it to what he and the Tigers had already released earlier that night. He continued to express their team’s love and support for him despite him no longer being with them moving forward.

“Yeah, my statement is my statement,” McMahon said postgame on Thursday. “You know, I love Tyrell. We love Tyrell. We’ll be here to support him every step of the way.”

This comes after said release was announced prior to the 95-60 win in the first game of the season for LSU over UL Monroe.

“Tyrell Ward and I have decided that he will be stepping away from the program to focus on his mental health. I do not anticipate him returning to competition this season,” McMahon wrote. “We are very appreciative of his contributions to our program and we will be supporting him every step of the way moving forward.”

Ward was entering his third season this year in Baton Rouge. He had appeared in 54 games, including 18 starts, over his first two as an underclassman. In that time, Ward averaged 6.8 points and two rebounds on 41.7% shooting from the field and 39.5% from there. That included a sophomore improvement in his statistics to 9.1 points and 2.3 rebounds with splits of 43.8% overall and 41.3% from three.

Ward played high school basketball at DeMatha Catholic as a native of Hyattsville, Maryland. He was a four-star prospect there as the No. 27 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle. He was also the No. 10 SF and No. 2 recruit from his state. That’s according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. That also made him the highest-rated signee of the Tigers’ class that year from four total commitments.

Ward was the top returning player for this year at LSU. He now won’t appear during it at all, though, with this decision on his future.