Illinois Basketball: Report has Illini as a favorite for Terrence Shannon

So far, the Illinois basketball offseason has been kind of crazy with the potential for the program to improve greatly.

The Illini already have a good team heading into the 2022-23 campaign. I like what we have with players like Luke Goode, RJ Melendez, and Brandin Podziemski, but there are some holes we need to fill. What if I told you the Illini could, potentially, fill one of the roster holes with an experienced in-state player?

When Illinois was recruiting the class of 2019, we were able to land big man Kofi Cockburn. Brad Underwood also missed on a few recruits from the class, and one of those misses was Terrence Shannon.

Shannon was originally from Chicago but transferred down to Florida to finish out his high school career. He then picked Texas Tech as his landing spot for college. After three seasons with the Red Raiders, Shannon decided to enter his name into the transfer portal just this past Friday.

Less than 24 hours later, Shannon has heard from numerous schools and, according to Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com, Kentucky and Illinois are favorites to land the talented transfer.

Illinois basketball would get a huge boost of depth with Terrence Shannon in the mix.

It would be huge if the Illini could end up landing Shannon in the transfer market. Illinois is losing players like Trent Frazier and Da’Monte Williams, so filling those guard holes in the roster is important.

Shannon would come in with two years of eligibility remaining, which is a bonus. He also had some great accomplishments with Texas Tech.

As a freshman, Shannon made the Big 12 All-Freshman team. Two seasons ago, he was selected to an All-Big 12 team. This season, he made the All-Big 12 Tournament Team.

The numbers dipped slightly for Shannon this past season, but he still managed to average 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. The big numbers I look at are his shooting percentages. Shannon actually improved on most metrics. He went from shooting 35.7% to 38.4% from three-point range this season. He also improved his free throw shooting from 75.6% to 78.4%.

I see Shannon coming in and starting for the Illini from day one. He would fit best at the No. 3 spot because of his great size at 6-foot-6. This would give Illinois a wing player who can slash but also hit the three-point shot when needed.

If Illinois can pull off a commitment from Shannon, this program would be in good hands. He is a tremendous player with a ton of upside.