Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. has been on one of the greatest scoring binges in school history, yet, heading into an Elite Eight game against UConn, he hadn’t spoken publicly since December.
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Few, if any, men’s college basketball teams have had a better March than Illinois, which went 3-0 at the Big Ten tournament, cutting down nets in Minneapolis, and is 3-0 in the NCAA Tournament, thrilling orange-clad onlookers first in Omaha, Neb., and now in Boston, where the Illini will meet No. 1-ranked UConn on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four.
Certainly, no team appears to be having more fun. Locker-room scenes involving water guns and a shirtless coach Brad Underwood have gone viral. At press conferences, Illini veterans — particularly Coleman Hawkins and Marcus Domask — are getting cheekier by the day. On Friday, they had fun at Underwood’s expense while the coach sat alongside them.
“He gets the rep of being a hard-nosed guy,” Domask said, “but on the inside, he’s really kind of soft.”
“Soft,” Hawkins added for emphasis.
“He’s kind of soft on the inside,” Domask repeated.
Finally, Underwood had heard enough.
“I’ve never been called that in my life, Marcus,” he said.
The Illini are even doing silly post-press-conference routines with their chairs, standing in unison, then shuffling around in a quirkily choreographed fashion — Underwood, too — before tucking in one another’s chairs and marching off the stage in lockstep. It’s charming, and reporters meeting the Illini for the first time are eating it up. The Illini are, it seems, the loosest bunch in the tournament.
Yet, somewhere above it all remains a persistent dark cloud that can’t be waved off or laughed away. And that is — as anyone who has followed this Illini team to a modest degree likely well knows — the legal jeopardy in which the star of the team finds himself, the uncertainty about his future and the nature of the crime with which he is charged.
For some readers, it will be overkill to put on the table — yet again — the subject of Terrence Shannon Jr.’s rape charge in Kansas. Frankly, it feels a little bit like overkill to be writing about it.
But then there’s the reality that many (if not most) who enjoy watching the tournament aren’t season-long watchers of college basketball games or readers of college basketball stories. As the Illini go deeper in the Big Dance, more and more of our readers are tuning in, much like they did — en masse — as Loyola was charging to the Final Four in 2018. And some of them are only beginning to learn about Shannon’s case and consider how it makes them feel to be cheering the team on.
Shannon has been a towering figure of late, averaging 31.2 points per game since the start of the Big Ten tournament. He also was charged on Dec. 5 with rape or an alternative count of sexual battery after a woman alleged that he grabbed her buttocks, reached under her skirt and inappropriately touched her at a bar in Lawrence, Kan. The All-American guard was suspended by Illinois on Dec. 8 and, after missing six games — and successfully suing the university for violating his right to due process — reinstated by a federal judge. The judge noted in her ruling that Shannon, who is from Chicago, is supporting several family members financially and that his opportunity to be an NBA lottery pick was in peril.
Shannon maintains his innocence but, on the advice of legal counsel, hasn’t spoken publicly since charges were filed. Athletic director Josh Whitman has denied requests to be interviewed, including from the Sun-Times, since announcing Shannon’s suspension at a press conference on Dec. 29. Coach Brad Underwood has been left in the awkward position of answering questions that really aren’t best directed at him.
“It’s obviously a very serious situation,” Underwood said in Boston. “We’re very well aware of that. I think there’s communication that [Shannon] has to have with his legal counsel, and so on and so forth, to be aware of what’s in his best interest moving forward. We’re going to adhere to that. The university has put out their statements on those situations, and we’re going to adhere to all that. And we’re going to play basketball and do it to the best of our ability and keep trying to win games.”
Those words might not make anyone who’s struggling with how to feel about all this any more comfortable.
At his pre-New Year’s press conference, Whitman said: “I want to state unequivocally that we have zero tolerance at this university [for] sexual misconduct. It is antithetical to our mission as an educational institution to grow, develop and prepare young people.”
It sounded like a clear position. But that was weeks before Shannon was reinstated. Weeks before the “No means no!” chants from opposing student sections and pep bands began. And it was before Shannon himself put both feet on the accelerator and, with his relentless scoring, became one of the biggest success stories in college basketball.
The 30-8 Illini have played so well — with Shannon carrying them whenever necessary — it has been a breathtaking ride to behold. But there’s still that cloud, and, as with all sensitive things, it will trouble some more than others.