Illinois basketball guard Terrence Shannon Jr. charged with rape

The Illinois basketball world is dealing with some startling news on Thursday afternoon.

According to a release by the Illinois Athletic Department, Illini guard Terrence Shannon Jr. has been suspended from all team activities, effective immediately.

The reason for the suspension has to do with legal issues. According to the release, Shannon has been charged with rape in the state of Kansas. He attended the Illinois football game when they tripped down to Lawrence back in September, and this was when the alleged incident occurred.

According to the release, Shannon has turned himself into authorities, and he has posted bail. It is being reported that athletic director Josh Whitman is going to address the media on Friday night before Illinois takes on Fairleigh Dickinson.

It is also being reported by Derek Piper of 247Sports that Illinois knew about the investigation by the Lawrence police since late September but haven't received actionable information until Wednesday.

What does this mean for Illinois basketball and the fanbase

Honestly, as of right now, basketball is pretty irrelevant when it comes to this situation. There is an alleged crime that is extremely serious. It is hard to think about basketball and what the program is going to do next. I wish the alleged victim nothing but the best.

As of right now, it seems that Illinois is handling this correctly. They came out with a strong statement and Shannon has been suspended pending an investigation. They are letting the authorities handle this extremely serious matter, and that is exactly what they should do.

Illinois fans shouldn’t jump to conclusions either way. Support of the investigation and the victim or victims is a must. This is a serious matter.