BATON ROUGE — LSU officials announced late Thursday that the jersey retirement ceremony for former LSU All-American Shaquille O’Neal would take place prior to the LSU-UNO basketball game on Saturday, rather than at halftime as originally scheduled.
The change was made at O’Neal’s request to allow the center to be able to complete a fly late Saturday evening to Toronto. The flight must be completed prior to midnight Eastern Standard Time before travel restrictions for charter flights to the Canadian city kick in, preventing him from getting in that night. The Los Angeles Lakers, O’Neal’s team, play the Raptors in a game scheduled for 11 a.m. CST Sunday.
The ceremony will now take place at 6:50 p.m. just prior to the start of the LSU-University of New Orleans game. Tickets for the game are still available at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office for $10 and on the Internet at
LSU officials are expecting a big walk-up crowd the night of the game and all fans are requested to arrive early to be a part of the ceremony which will feature Chancellor Mark Emmert, Athletic Director Joe Dean and former LSU men’s basketball coach Dale Brown. There will also be a video presentation for O’Neal on the big screens before his number is unveiled on the Ring of Honor next to Bob Pettit and Pete Maravich.
This will be the first official jersey retirement by the LSU Athletic Department and the Hall of Fame committee since Maravich’s jersey was retired at the final home game of his career in 1970.
O’Neal will also be in town on Friday participating in graduation ceremonies at the Maravich Assembly Center at 8:45 a.m. and 4 p.m.