HOUSTON — Shaqir O’Neal, the youngest son of basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, has committed to play basketball at Texas Southern University.
The younger O’Neal, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard, made the announcement Friday in an Instagram post. He displayed a drawing of himself wearing a Texas Southern uniform.
Shaqir O’Neal played at Creekside Christian Academy in McDonough, Georgia, KPRC reported.
In an interview with Overtime, a sports network, Shaqir O’Neal said his decision to play ball at Texas Southern was to “change the narrative” on historically Black colleges and universities, KHOU reported.
“You can expect a lot of buckets,” Shaqir O’Neal said in the interview.
Shaqir O’Neal is not ranked among the top 100 recruits of the 2021 class on ESPN.com. He is listed as a three-star recruit on some recruiting sites, ranking 275th according to 247Sports’ Composite.
Texas Southern is coached by Johnny Jones, who was an assistant under Dale Brown when Shaquille O’Neal played for LSU, the Tigers, KPRC reported. Shareef O’Neal, Shaqir’s older brother, is a forward for LSU after transferring from UCLA, the television station reported.