LSU started the 2025-26 college basketball season with some momentum during the non-conference schedule and it looked like head coach Matt McMahon might save his job. The crowd at the PMAC on Tuesday night reflects a very different reality.
Nobody wants to watch the Tigers lose yet another game in demoralizing fashion.
Barring an unforeseen run to the NCAA Tournament, Louisiana State University will likely begin its search for a new college basketball coach in exactly one month from today. He completely lost the fanbase.
LSU is terrible.
The Tigers made March Madness as a No. 6 seed in 2021-22 at 22-12. Will Wade built a successful program during his five years as head coach before the entire thing came crashing down due to the FBI investigation into the corruption scandal best known as ‘The Scheme.’
Wade was out, Matt McMahon was in.
Initial challenges were to be expected. The LSU men’s basketball program was coming off of self-imposed sanctions and received three years of probation. It was not supposed to be this bad.
The Tigers went 14-19 in year one, 17-16 in year two and 14-18 in year three. Year four is trending in the same direction.
LSU started the season at 12-1 with a loss only to No. 19-ranked Texas Tech. It has since lost nine of its last 11 games— all in the Southeastern Conference. A .500 finish seems unlikely. There is no hope.
It would be surprising if McMahon is allowed to return for a fifth season at the helm but he might get lucky because of the coaching change in football. We’ll see.
The basketball team drew an abysmal crowd for an ugly loss.
Fan support for the men’s basketball program continues to dwindle as the Tigers continue to lose. Tuesday was perhaps the worst crowd since the pandemic in 2020.
That applies to every sport— not just men’s hoops. I have never seen the PMAC so empty.
A couple of minutes to tip of the #LSU-Arkansas men’s game. Smallest crowd I’ve seen in the PMAC for anything since Covid. Stunning. pic.twitter.com/KsTzIMIFyo
— Scott Rabalais (@RabalaisAdv) February 11, 2026
This was the crowd with less than five minutes until tipoff against a ranked SEC opponent:
About 4 minutes until tipoff. Sparse crowd in the PMAC.#LSU pic.twitter.com/MvuKgUgjB0
— Tripp Buhler (@TrippBuhler) February 11, 2026
The fans who decide to show up witnessed a murder. Arkansas beat LSU by 29 points. The Razorbacks were up so big that they played rock, paper, scissors to decide who would shoot a free throw.
They played rock, paper, scissors to see who would shoot the free throw 😂🤣 @RazorbackMBB pic.twitter.com/1bN06TCdzc
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 11, 2026
That’s demoralizing. Matt McMahon must go.