BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - SEPTEMBER 6: Matt Gilhool of the LSU Tigers poses for a portrait at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on September 6, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by LSU Athletics/University Images via Getty Images)

Matt Gilhool

Bio

Position: Forward / Center

Height: 6’10’

Weight: 215

Hometown: Elizabethtown, PA

Recruiting Class: 2025

Eligibility: Redshirt Freshman (4 seasons remaining)

Former Team: LSU

High School Rankings: 4*(92) – National Rank: 90 – Power Forward Rank: 18

**Transfer Portal Rankings:**NR

High School Career

Gilhool was considered one of the top 100 recruits in the 2025 recruiting class and was a consensus 4* prospect across all of the major evaluation sites. As a senior, he averaged 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks a game. He was named to the Pennsylvania All-State team three times (Soph-Senior) and helped William Penn Charter win two Inter-Academic League Championships (I have no idea what that means; Pennsylvania’s high school system is beyond my comprehension).

His final six schools, not including LSU, were Iowa, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Utah, and Alabama.

High School / AAU Highlights

College Career

2025- ‘26 Season – LSU

Redshirt

2026-’27 Season Outlook

Reserve Forward

Thoughts

I’ll start with the thoughts of On3’s LSU writer, Matthew Brune:

Gilhool is an exciting 6-foot-11 prospect who has been thrown into the fire the past couple of months at LSU, going against several veterans on a daily basis. I’ve talked before how much I appreciate the new size and depth in the frontcourt and Gilhool got straight to work, battling against Rob Miller, Mike Nwoko, and Marquel Sutton, (Jalen Reed rehabbing still).

His shooting is a real separator skill and his feel for the game is instrumental in what made him a top 75 recruit. He’s already bulked up some, getting to 218 pounds and the work ethic has kept him on an incline throughout the offseason with his development. It will take some time for the physicality to get where it needs to be, but similar to Mosley, the skill is on the level of a high-major player right away.

Reading the tea leaves, it looks like former LSU coach Matt McMahon intended to bring Gilhool around slowly. That makes sense for someone who was 6’11” and 200 pounds coming out of high school. To put that in perspective, I was 6’3”, 180 as a senior in high school, and looked like I was in desperate need of a sandwich.

LSU had two seniors (Marquel Sutton and Pablo Tamba) at power forward, so McMahon thought he could wait on his 4* forward to get his weight up and adjust to life in the SEC away from the spotlight. McMahon got the ax, and LSU completed its axis of coaching evil by bringing back Will Wade. The Tigers’ loss is Kansas State’s gain. All of the skills that made him a top 100 recruit are now in a slightly more bulked-up, and still left-handed, package. No one is going to confuse Gilhool for Marcus Johnson, but my guess is he checks in at Kansas State around 22o pounds. That’s much more conducive to surviving life in the Big 12.

He’s a skilled, athletic big man with plenty of runway to improve in Casey Alexander’s wide-open system, and he gives you some idea of how Alexander intends to compete on defense in the Big 12. He’s going out and snagging as many mobile rim protectors as he can find. Gilhool isn’t going to be a back-to-the-basket post player, but Casey Alexander doesn’t need one in his offense.

What Gilhool does well, outside of perimeter shooting, from the film I’ve seen, is slash to the basket and finish around the rim with touch. He tries to dunk everything that looks like it might be dunkable. I was surprised by how aggressive he was around the rim when given the opportunity.

Casey Alexander is a developmental coach, and, in terms of raw talent, Gilhool will be one of the best he’s had at his disposal. It might take a season for him to fully come online, but you can’t ask for a better fit if you’re a stretch big with good all-around skill.

I’m excited to see how his career progresses in Manhattan.