Months After Shaquille O’Neal’s Stepfather ‘Chewed Out’ LSU Head Coach, Dale Brown ‘Threw Hands’ for 7ft 1″ Big at 1992 SEC Quarterfinals
Shaquille O’Neal is arguably one of the greatest NBA players to come from LSU to the league. Shaq has always been an apple of the eye for his coaches, so much so that his head coaches could go to lengths and breadths to take a stand for their star player. When the 7ft 1″ Shaq got into an altercation in 1992 with a Tennessee State player, coach Dale Brown was ready to throw hands for the Big Diesel. This happened months after Shaq’s stepfather Sgt. Phillip Harrison told off coach Brown to allow his stepson to play as a power player.
When coach Dale Brown wanted to teach O’Neal Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s ‘sky-hook’ dunk, Shaq’s step-father intervened. As Shaq revealed in his book Shaq Uncut, his dad lambasted Brown, telling him that his stepson need not learn from the book. That was because Sgt. Harrison saw Shaq as a power player, having the ability to bring his own ingenuity to the game by specializing best at attacking the rim.
Coach Dale Brown once threw hands to help Shaquille O’Neal during an altercation at the 1992 SEC Quarter Finals
Shaquille O’Neal was the star player for the LSU Tigers back in the 1990s. He was as explosive during his drives as we know of him during his peak. Hence, it’s hard for the opponents to stop Big Aristotle when he attacks the rim.
During the 1992 SEC Quarter-Finals against Tennessee, Shaq’s LSU was playing as the 23rd-ranked college team. In the second half of the tournament, when Shaq was driving for a dunk, Tennessee’s Carlus Groves figured the only way to stop the Diesel’s advance was by grabbing him around the waist. As Groves pulled Shaq down from his vertical, he fell down and furiously broke his grasp. Have a look at this clip from this conflict, posted by Ball Street Journal on X (formerly Twitter).
That time @SHAQ’s LSU coach was ready to throw hands for Shaq
pic.twitter.com/e8d7UuJrdD
— Ball Street Journal (@BallStOfficial) March 6, 2020
This immediately resulted in a tough tussle between the two players, with referees separating them. However, things got nasty when coach Dale Brown decided to get involved. Brown decided to take a stand for his star player and was ready to throw hands for his star player. Soon, the players from the benches got involved and what seemed like an altercation soon turned into a brawl.
O’Neal was suspended from the semi-finals in the tournament that the Tigers lost
Following this heated on-court altercation, Shaquille O’Neal was suspended from the subsequent semi-finals against the Kentucky Wildcats. Coach Dale Brown, however, was not ejected. When later asked, Brown claimed that he rather play the role of a ‘peace-maker’ than be an aggravator in that conflict.
Unfortunately, without Shaq, the Tigers could not hold strong in the semi-finals. The Wildcats defeated the Tigers 80-74 in the game, much to the dismay of coach Brown and perhaps, Shaq himself. Though Shaq has achieved commendably since he debuted in the NBA, he could definitely have added one last laurel in his college career, had he not been suspended in that fateful quarter-finals.
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