Illinois star guard Terrence Shannon Jr. was still wiping the sleep out of his eyes when he picked up the phone at 9 a.m.
A lazy non-game-day Tuesday? Uh, no.
Shannon was out of bed before 4:30, in the gym hoisting up shots at 5, on the massage table after that and then? Then came two hours in a hyperbaric chamber, during which he lay with a blanket and pillow and — despite the ear-popping that always makes it a bit harder to relax inside the contraption — at last visited dreamland.
It was 9 and the fifth-year senior, a sociology major, was hungry, preparing to sandwich a noon Illini practice in between meals. After all that, he’d get in the hot tub for a while and then — this lively lefty, a dude who never stops — have an “actual workout,” individually, with an Illini coach.
You want to know why Shannon, the best player on the 16th-ranked team in the land, is averaging 21.7 points, shooting 50.8% from the field and 42.4% from three and being talked about in All-American terms? Re-read the above.
Shannon worked his rear end off like this last season, too — the Lincoln Park alum’s first in Champaign after three at Texas Tech — but probably got more credit for it than he deserves. Before even the first game, Illini coach Brad Underwood painted the newcomer as the next Ayo Dosunmu, a player who would do anything to get better and would will teammates to ascend with him. The “willing” part never happened.
“I could’ve done more, could’ve spoken up more,” Shannon said. “I should have.”
Routinely in the gym long before the break of dawn last year at this time, Shannon would shoot alone. Meanwhile, the team was showing cracks. On Dec. 10, after a bad loss at home to Penn State, Underwood cited “zero” leadership among players and, when asked about Shannon specifically, stuck his tongue out and blew. Archie Bunker would’ve been proud, but it wasn’t the coach’s best moment. Days after, teammate Coleman Hawkins referred in an interview to “tuning out” Underwood. A week after that, high-profile transfer Matthew Mayer referred to “internal” problems “between the players and the coaches.”
The Illini started 0-3 in Big Ten play, with Underwood getting in Shannon’s face at Northwestern and screaming at him in a moment that went viral.
“That was nothing,” Shannon says now. “I tell him to do that to show my other teammates that I can take it.”
The first week of January rolled around, with freshman point guard Skyy Clark — Illinois’ highest-ranked recruit since Dee Brown — announcing that he was leaving. The Illini went on to the NCAA Tournament but never looked like the real deal after all that.
“We could have been better,” Shannon said. “Coach said last year that we didn’t even deserve to go far in March. …
“But me and Coach had a conversation this summer about how being a leader is uncomfortable. Sometimes, you’ve got to have conversations with your friends that they don’t want to have. I will say I didn’t do that last year. This year, I changed that. It’s not that I don’t care, but I do it now rather than think about how somebody might feel. Being a leader is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Many mornings, Shannon is joined at the facility first thing by key newcomers Quincy Guerrier and Marcus Domask — transfers from Oregon and Southern Illinois, respectively — and sharpshooter Luke Goode, along with developmental freshmen Amani Hansberry and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.
“I didn’t see that last year,” Shannon said.
He is careful to point out that other teammates, not necessarily “morning people,” are putting in extra work, too, and that this team — 7-2 after an impressive 2-1 stretch against Rutgers, Florida Atlantic and Tennessee in which Shannon averaged 26 points — is “way more connected” than last season’s squad. Practices are more competitive. On the players’ group chat, the texts rarely stop.
“We’re having more fun,” Shannon said.
And not only that.
“I feel like we’re going to win the Big Ten. I’m really confident in that, really believe that.”
Underwood has come all the way back around on his star, and then some.
“I think he’s the best two-way player in the country,” Underwood said.
A player whose love for the game is revealed dark and early, a moonlight serenade.
NOTE: No. 25 Northwestern has a chance Wednesday, when it hosts Chicago State, for a nearly 65-year first — a win at Welsh-Ryan Arena as a ranked team. On Jan. 3, 1959, the No. 6 Wildcats beat Iowa 80-77 at what was then called McGaw Hall. The last time Northwestern was ranked for a game on campus was Jan. 2, 2010, when it was blown out by Michigan State. The last time ranked for a home game was Nov. 15, 2017, a loss to Creighton at Allstate Arena.
AP Top 25
1. Arizona, 2. Kansas, 3. Purdue, 4. Houston, 5. UConn, 6. Baylor, 7. Marquette, 8. Creighton, 9. North Carolina, 10. Gonzaga, 11. Oklahoma, 12. Tennessee, 13. Clemson State, 14. Kentucky, 15. Florida Atlantic, 16. Illinois, 17. Colorado State, 18. BYU, 19. Texas, 20. James Madison, 21. Duke, 22. Virginia, 23. Wisconsin, 24. Miami, 25. Northwestern.
(Click here to see the poll in more complete list form.)
My ballot
1. Arizona, 2. Kansas, 3. Houston, 4. Purdue, 5. UConn, 6. Baylor, 7. Marquette, 8. Creighton, 9. North Carolina, 10. Clemson, 11. Oklahoma, 12. Gonzaga, 13. Tennessee, 14. Illinois, 15. Florida Atlantic, 16. Colorado State, 17. Kentucky, 18. Ole Miss, 19. BYU, 20. Texas, 21. Northwestern, 22. Wisconsin, 23. Virginia, 24. James Madison, 25. Duke.
(Click here and then on “all voters” to see each voter’s individual ballot.)
