How Shaquille O'Neal, other LSU players, sparked Humboldt’s TSSAA basketball state tournament win
MURFREESBORO — Humboldt’s boys basketball team is feeling the love and support from all around at the TSSAA boys basketball state tournament.
That support is coming from all over the country, including past LSU basketball players and of course locally from Humboldt, with the Class of 1987 sponsoring a breakfast at the Vikings’ sendoff celebration.
Vikings coach Ron Abernathy was an assistant and recruiting coordinator for LSU basketball from 1976-89 and was heavily involved in getting Naismith Memorial Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal to go play for the Tigers.
O’Neal, who is preparing for Turner Sports’ studio coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, is one of several former players that reached out to Abernathy prior to the Vikings’ 54-35 TSSAA Class 1A quarterfinal win over North Greene (30-5) on Wednesday.
“With social media nowadays, you can’t keep much a secret,” Abernathy said. “I heard from Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (now known as Chris Jackson), Rudy Macklin, who played for me in high school. Heard from all of them this week and today.”
Humboldt (29-5) will face Chattanooga Prep (27-8) on Friday in a Class 1A semifinal, set for 9:30 a.m. at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro.
Kendrick Taylor, who led the Vikings’ scoring with 13 points and added five rebounds, said seeing the support from some of those big names in the college ranks is a big boost to the relationship with the Vikings’ coaching staff.
“It makes us trust them even more,” Taylor said. “They’ve been through a lot more than we have. We’ve got to trust their thinking and the evidence that they have, they put players in the NBA and coach good players. (There) should be no questions asked of us, we know nothing compared to what they know.”
The Vikings picked up their first win in the state tournament since 2019 after losing in the 2023 quarterfinals. Sophomore Darion Taylor added 12 points, seven rebounds and a couple of exciting dunks to help lift the Vikings’ energy. Key’vontay Wedley added eight points with two key 3-pointers to add to the Vikings’ momentum.
After losing in his sophomore year, Kendrick Taylor said having another opportunity to play at Murphy Center was exciting and nerve racking.
“To come out sophomore year and lose first round … then to play with this team (is amazing),” Taylor said. “This isn’t to say anything bad about the past teams I played on, but it’s probably the best team I played on. To actually come up here and play this type of ball with these boys, it’s the best thing.”
Austin Chastain is a sports writer covering West Tennessee high schools. Reach him by email at achastain@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ.
This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: TSSAA basketball state tournament: How Shaquille O'Neal sparked Humboldt win
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