CHAMPAIGN — Terrence Shannon Jr.'s No. 0 jersey will soon be raised to the State Farm Center rafters among the other honored former Illinois greats. Illini athletic director Josh Whitman announced that decision late Thursday morning.
It took an announcement from Whitman — an exception from Whitman — to have Shannon's jersey be the next honored. The now former Illinois guard had one of the best single seasons in program history, but didn't hit any of the traditional qualifications to have his jersey in the rafters after playing out the 2023-24 season under a cloud of a criminal case that ended in a definitive not guilty verdict earlier this month.
"Obviously, given the season that he had — one of the greatest seasons in the history of our program — it was clear to I think anybody who followed college basketball that he was one of the top 10 players in the country," Whitman said. "Probably one of the top 2-3 players in the country. Only for the situation he had to go through he didn't get the votes to be a the consensus All-American our policy requires. We were excited to grant an exception there and look forward to celebrating him once he has a sense of here he's going to be and what his schedule looks like and letting our fans thank him for all that he's done helping advance the program."
Shannon set Illinois' single-season scoring record in 2023-24 with 736 points. The 6-foot-6 guard, who could end up a first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft next week, finished out his Illini career averaging 23 points, four rebounds and 2.3 assists for a 29-9 team that reached the Elite Eight.
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Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. gestures during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Wisconsin in the championship of the Big Ten Conference tournament March 17 in Minneapolis. Shannon was taken No. 27 in the NBA Draft.