5 big questions for the Illinois basketball team against Rutgers

3. How much is Terrence Shannon Jr. going to be used?

There is going to be an adjustment for the Illinois basketball team on Sunday. The Illini are getting back leading scorer, Terrence Shannon Jr.

While Shannon is still awaiting trial for his rape allegations, he was granted the ability to come back to the program by the court system. So, now Shannon is back in an Illinois jersey ready to take the court once again.

I am going to be watching to see how much Shannon is going to be used in his first game back with the team. Will he be on the court for extended minutes?

Brad Underwood did his pregame press conference on Saturday and gave a little insight into what his plans were for Shannon.

Underwood mentioned that Shannon wasn’t going to start and that there was an integration process for the star guard. He will bring him off the bench, as he hasn't played in six games and it’s been around three weeks he has been away from the team.

This makes sense, but the question was also posed about how much Underwood was going to play Shannon. Underwood’s response was that it would be a feel thing.

I would venture to say we are probably going to see Shannon for 18-22 minutes against Rutgers. He shouldn’t be in too bad of game shape, so Shannon should see a seamless transition.

But I also believe this is the right play by Underwood. I think Illinois has formed some nice chemistry since Shannon has been out, and I don’t want to mess that up. Let’s ease him back into action and see how things go early on.