Illinois announces guard Terrence Shannon Jr. unavailable to NCAA media on advice of counsel

Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. will be unavailable to NCAA media on advice from his counsel, the team announced Tuesday.

“Illinois just put this out: Please note: As Illinois continues in the NCAA Tournament, be advised that Terrence Shannon Jr. will remain unavailable to the media, pursuant to the advice of his legal counsel,” Adam Zagoria of the New York Times wrote on Twitter.

No. 3 seeded Illinois will take on No. 2 Iowa State Thursday in the Sweet 16.

Shannon was originally suspended in late December 2023 by Illinois after a warrant was issued for his arrest for an alleged rape that took place in Kansas. Through his lawyers, Shannon quickly released a statement on the matter, indicating he would push back against the suspension that he claimed hadn’t followed processes laid out by the school’s own policies.

Those processes would be governed by the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, or OSCR. In her ruling, Lawless cited that the OSCR policy hadn’t been followed.

“Defendants are enjoined from suspending Plaintiff from the basketball team without at least affording him the protections of the OSCR policy,” Lawless’ ruling said, in part.

He shared his excitement to retake the court.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to re-join my teammates and get back to work,” Shannon said on social media.

Back in January, a federal judge ruled in favor of Shannon for a temporary restraining order (TRO) that ended the suspension against him by the school. It did not, however, curtail the lawsuit itself, which is still ongoing and examining whether or not the school acted outside the scope of its own policy in suspending Shannon rapidly.

Illinois won the Big Ten Tournament on the backs of Shannon and Marcus Domask, according to head coach Brad Underwood.

“That duo has carried us all year. We talked at halftime that we have to ride those two,” Underwood said. “We had to get them more shots, we had to get them more opportunities. Those two guys were elite. They do what they do and then we made enough stops when we had to. My hats off to that Wisconsin team. They were terrific.

““I’ve said all along – this is the most connected team I’ve ever coached,” Underwood said. “They’re connected, they’re great individuals, their character’s high. They’ve always bought in. The veterans accepted the new guys in their roles.”

Andrew Graham contributed to this report