“They had Bo Kimble and the great Hank Gathers. Rest in peace Hank,” O’Neal recalled. “Coach Brown came to me and said, ‘Big fella, can you play?’ I said, ‘I like running, you make us run every day in practice.’ Coach said, ‘This guy you are playing against is a pro player but he’s still in college. This guy won’t quit.’ So I’m like who is it? I’m looking at Hank Gathers and he’s 6-7 and I’m going to be all right. I kind of had my way with him but he’s the only player that kept coming back. I think I blocked his shot like 10 or 12 times, he kept coming back. I think he ended up with 40-something points.”

Here's what Bo Kimble said about that game: “I played with Hank for 11 years, and there’s no better story about his heart and resilience than the LSU game. You (Shaq) did a great job blocking the first five shots, but good luck trying to stop the next 30.”

Gathers was 6'7, but could jump like a gazelle and ran up and down the court all day. O'neal blocked him 10 times (he finished with 12 blocks total), but Gathers scored 48 points.

Gathers actually blocked quite a few shots himself throughout his career. It's hard to say how good of a defender he was, IMO, because the LMU system didn't call for it.

http://ballislife.com/1990-17-year-old-shaqs-triple-double-20pts-24rebs-12blks-vs-hank-gathers-48pts-loyola-marymount/