LOUISIAN La. — Tiras Wade wanted to make up for lost time early Saturday morning.

It was only minutes after midnight when Wade touched the ball, 25 seconds into Louisiana’s Midnight Madness scrimmage at the Cajundome, and the junior swingman buried a 3-pointer from the left wing.

Wade proceeded to score nine of his Red team’s first 12 points, those coming in just over five minutes, and fans were scrambling for rosters to figure out who the guy with the long braids and the No. 1 number on his jersey was.

Close followers of the Ragin’ Cajun program knew, since Wade worked out with the squad all of last season while sitting out his transfer year. And new head coach Robert Lee knows what the Tampa, Fla., native can bring to his first Louisiana squad.

“Tyrus can score,” Lee said after the hour-long after-midnight session, “and we’re going to need him to score.”

Wade only had two points the rest of the night, and his Red team saw a 15-point lead vanish in the second half as the Black unit took a 42-36 win. But he was still upbeat about his first on-court activity in front of a crowd in 20 months.

“I feel like I’ve been caged up for a year,” Wade said. “It hurt me to sit back and watch the team get into the (NCAA) tournament last year and not be able to help them there. I feel like I’ve been freed up now.”

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com