LSU junior basketball player Charles Manning Jr. will return to the lineup this weekend, a source confirmed. Manning missed the last month due to a foot fracture suffered on Jan. 14 against Texas A&M.

Manning had been a spark plug off the bench for the Tigers prior to his injury, averaging eight points and three rebounds per game. Manning will provide much-needed depth for LSU looking to defend its Southeastern Conference title down the stretch.

Coach Will Wade addressed the lack of depth following Tuesday’s victory over Missouri.

“We’ve got to get more from our bench,” Wade said. “We’ll need him [Manning] back bad because we need some help on our bench. It’s going to be hard to keep winning with just five guys. Our bench guys need to step up and help us.”

Senior Marlon Taylor, who is arguably LSU’s most athletic player, has been serviceable both offensively and on the glass in Manning’s absence. Wade expressed his excitement in pairing the two, as Taylor and Manning have yet to share the court together.

“When we have Charles and Marlon on the floor it’ll fix about 80% of the problem,” Wade said. “The problems have to do with matchups in a way they’re playing and things like that. We need both of those guys back so that we can kind of go with a five person guard rotation or four person big rotation.”