BATON ROUGE – LSU Coach Matt McMahon has announced that four-star signee Marcus Vaughns has joined the Tiger basketball program and will enroll in classes at the University for the spring 2026 semester.
Vaughns, from Australia, will use the rest of the basketball season as a redshirt season, but he will begin practicing and work with the scout team during the remainder of the 2025-26 season. Vaughns signed with LSU in the November 2025 signing period.
“We are really excited to announce Marcus Vaughns is here and enrolled for the spring semester,” said Coach McMahon at a Wednesday media opportunity. “It will hopefully be a five-month head start for him on his freshman year. So, he’ll go through all his medicals this week, and then he will be able to start practice next week, and essentially this will be his redshirt year before he takes the floor as a freshman next season. So we are really excited to welcome Marcus to LSU, all the way from Australia.”
The 6-8 Vaughns is from Melbourne, Australia. He was part of the NBA Global Academy and took part in Basketball Without Borders during the NBA All-Star Weekend. He attended and played for the Centre of Excellence in Australia.
The NBA Global Academy provides development for top high school-age players outside the U.S. through a holistic approach that includes basketball skills, education, and life skills.
Vaughns, who participated in the G-League Showcase in 2024 and was named the MVP of the 2024 NIKE All-Asian camp, is the son of Brian Vaughns, who was a fifth-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1987 NBA Draft. He also played for years in Australia’s National Basketball League and in Europe for several seasons. Brian played his college basketball at UC Santa Barbara and married Marcus’ mom, Julie, who is a native Australian.
In the early part of the NBL1 East Men’s Conference for the COE, Marcus Vaughns averaged 8.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals.
The four-star recruit was ranked No. 92 in the 247sports.com recruiting rankings at the time of his standings.
“He’ll be able to join our scout team, the one-on-one time in the gym, the five extra months he’ll get to spend with (Strength and Conditioning Coach Mike) Chatman in the weight room along with just the overall acclimation to college … He’s played on the international circuit, so he’s been away from home, but still, I think, having this semester head start will really benefit him with his transition here to LSU. So I think there’s only positives to take from it.”
The Tigers open SEC play on Saturday at Texas A&M at 3 p.m. on ESPNU and the LSU Sports Radio Network.