Freshman forward Wayde Sims is no stranger to the city of Baton Rouge.
The Sims family name isn’t either. Wayde’s father, Wayne Sims, played forward for the Tigers from 1987-91.
Wayne played under former LSU coach Dale Brown, appearing in the NCAA Tournament each year of his collegiate career.
“It feels good,” Wayde said. “I’m just kind of carrying on his legacy playing behind him. I’m trying to be better than him, I guess you could say. He’s been a mentor to me throughout high school.”
The No. 44 purple and gold jersey Wayde dons in every LSU game is the same number his father wore during his time at LSU.
“I played there for four years,” Wayne said. “For him to follow my footsteps is an awesome experience. He’s been wearing that number since he was maybe 12 or 13. He knew that I wore 44, and he embraced it at a young age, and he wanted to continue wearing it when he went to the collegiate level.”
Wayne has been at Wayde’s side when it comes to basketball for as long as he can remember.
So far in his rookie season, Wayde is averaging 5.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game and shooting 44.7 percent from the field through 16 games.
“I’ve always tried to be there to support him in any type of way — kind of shed light on the game of what I know, try to help him along the way,” Wayne said. “I’ve always tried to encourage him and try to critique his mistakes to make him better.”
The Baton Rouge native held scholarship offers from local schools such as University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Louisiana Tech, but in the end, it was LSU that got Wayde to commit.
“I had other schools looking at me, and I was looking at them, too,” he said. “This school wasn’t just the place that I said I was just going to go to. I felt like this was the place that felt like home.”
Wayde, a University High School graduate, didn’t have to travel far to continue his basketball career.
He won three state titles under head coach Joe Spencer at University High School and spent the first three years playing alongside fellow freshman point guard Skylar Mays.
“I feel like that helps — staying here and keeping the local fans, keeping the same fans,” Wayde said. “If I would have went off to another school, I would have had to make new fans.”
There are a few differences between this season’s team and the 1987-88 team that Wayne played on as a freshman.
“When I was a freshman, I had more senior leadership,” Wayne said. “We had a couple of guys that were seniors on the team. They kind of pulled me along the way. His team is young, and they need to grow together.”
Wayde and his father have more in common than their jersey number.
Both were recruited by current LSU coach Johnny Jones, a cousin to the Sims family and an assistant coach under Dale Brown when Wayne attended LSU.
“It’s been a good connection,” Wayne said. “With family, he’s someone that you can trust for sure. It wasn’t a hard decision when Wayde decided he wanted to go to LSU and play for Johnny. It was a great choice and a great decision for him.”
While basketball is what brought Wayde to LSU, Wayne hopes to see his son get much more out of the experience as well.
“I would hope that he would go his four years and be able to graduate and get a degree,” Wayne said. “I look at basketball as an experience to be able to see places that you never thought you would have went before. That’s what it was for me.”

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Former LSU forward Wayne Sims attempts a jump shot on Dec. 5, 1990.