Will Wade reiterates Xavier Pinson's importance to the Tigers

Following his team’s 77-75 loss to South Carolina on Saturday, LSU basketball head coach Will Wade spoke with reporters after the game and talked about the importance of his star guard, Xavier Pinson, to the team.

“He’s very, very important. He’s one of our best players. He keeps us poised and calm and composed when we’re out there, which is critical. He’s an important, important piece to what we’re doing. We need him to continue to play well. He’s gotta start shooting it better now that he’s got his sea legs under him and hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later,” the LSU head men’s basketball coach said.

Pinson’s importance to the Tigers’ roster cannot be overstated. LSU is 17-2 this season in games when their star guard plays more than 16 minutes. Their two losses during that stretch came against Auburn and South Carolina. Like his head coach noted, Pinson has struggled shooting recently. In the past two games, he’s only made five of his last 20 field goal attempts.

Xavier Pinson suffered a knee injury earlier in the year

LSU’s star guard suffered a knee injury on Jan. 8 after slipping on a wet spot at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Further tests revealed it was a knee sprain and not an ACL tear. The Tigers also lost Adam Miller to a season-ending ACL tear on Oct. 20.

One of Pinson’s best games of the 2021-2022 season came against Lipscomb on Dec. 22, when he dumped in 17 points with five assists. He also pumped in 13 points and six assists against Georgia Tech on Dec. 11.

Pinson decided to transfer from Missouri during the spring of 2021. He played for the Tigers for his first three seasons of college basketball. During the 2020-2021 season, he averaged 13.6 points per game, 2.9 assists per game, and 1.1 steals per game.