Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Western Illinois

5. Terrence Shannon Jr. is doing exactly what he needs to do for his future

I will be the first to admit that when Terrence Shannon Jr. declared for the NBA Draft after last season, I thought there was no way he gets picked high and there was a chance he was a G-Leaguer for life.

Shannon was not an efficient player last season, and he was more of a me-guy. He would disappear at times, and this hurt the team greatly. Shannon would also take horrible shots.

This offseason, Shannon clearly was in the lab. He took whatever advice the NBA scouts gave him seriously, and he got to work molding himself into an NBA-caliber player.

Shannon’s game against Western Illinois on Friday night was just another example of his great play. He only saw 26 minutes of action but still dropped 19 points, two rebounds, one steal, one assist, and one block while only turning the ball over on time. Shannon also hit 6-of-10 from the field and 6-of-8 from three-point range.

With the great game against Western Illinois, Shannon is now averaging multiple career highs. The most important career high is his three-point shooting. He went from hitting 32.1% from three-point range last season to 43.9% so far this year.

On top of the three-point shooting, Shannon is averaging 19.5 points, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and shooting 49.3% from the field, all of which are also career highs.

I haven’t even mentioned that Shannon is averaging 1.8 turnovers per game this season, which is the fewest turnovers per game since the 2020-21 season.

Shannon’s year-to-year development has been incredible. He is clearly a different player and has worked on his game tremendously. The Western Illinois game was just another example of that fact. Shannon should continue to work his way up NBA Draft boards.