BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 09: (L-R) Shareef O'Neal and Shaquille O'Neal attend the 19th Annual Harold and Carole Pump Foundation Gala at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 09, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Harold and Carole Pump Foundation )LSU forward Shareef O’Neal, son of Tigers and NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, is currently in his first year at his father’s alma mater. A foot injury has kept him off the court during the first few games of the SEC season.
O’Neal has appeared in five games for LSU this season, after transferring in from UCLA. He’s averaging three points and five rebounds in just under 15 minutes per game, making his biggest impact with a five point, nine rebound performance in 19 minutes against SE Louisiana.
The lanky 6-foot-10 forward last played in the team’s win over Nicholls, but has missed the first two SEC contests of the year, a win over Texas A&M and a loss to Florida. This afternoon, he took to Twitter to update his status.
O’Neal says he is working through a foot injury that has him in a walking boot. He says that he should be back on the floor after “about a week and some change.”
For everyone asking Ill be back on the floor soon, just gotta get out this boot.. foot injury keeping me out but I’m all good .. about a week and some change left and I’m back out there 🤞🏽❤️
— Shareef O’Neal (@SSJreef) January 2, 2021
LSU basketball hosts Georgia on Wednesday night, and travels to face No. 12 Missouri on Saturday, Jan. 9. It sounds like he’ll be out for at least those two games, with a potential return for home games vs. Arkansas on Jan. 13 or South Carolina on Jan. 16.
The Tigers are 6-2 on the season so far, and have split their first two SEC games.
Shareef O’Neal has had something of a tumultuous start to his college career. He began at UCLA, but had to miss the entire 2018-19 season after having heart surgery that December. He returned to the floor, appearing in 13 games during the 2019-20 season, but opted to transfer to LSU in early 2020, leaving the Bruins program.
