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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation”, your daily dose of university basketball news from the Illini Beat writer and the 25 best voters Scott Richey. He will offer information every morning in the Brad Underwood team and university basketball in general:
If you have passed in the semi-final match of the West Conference on Tuesday evening between the Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the hope of seeing Terrence Shannon Jr. in action on Tuesday evening, you were disappointed. Above all, you only saw the old guard of Illinois on the Minnesota bench.
Shannon ended up playing in the last minute, 46 seconds from the third quarter, obtained a lay-up blocked by Jonathan Kuminga, then fell to start the fourth quarter.
It was quite representative of the way Shannon's recruit season took place. The trap, it seems, to be a late choice in the first round for a team with the two aspirations as the NBA and one of the largest stars in the League in the same position.
Shannon was never going to take a few minutes from Anthony Edwards. He is the face of the franchise. But the former illini did not take several minutes from Donte Divincenzo or Nickeil Alexander-Walker or Jaylen Clark. All three have played more this season, with Divincenzo and Alexander-Walker Staples in the rotation.
There was a section in February where it seemed that Shannon was in the middle of a break / breakthrough. Freshly released by spending most of the month of inactive January with a sprain in the middle of the feet, Shannon had nine consecutive games where he played at least 13 minutes. He even obtained his one and only start of the season in this period of two weeks.
Shannon collected an average of 11.3 points, four rebounds and 2.3 assists at these nine games in February. Driven 50% of the field and 84% on the free throw line, while fighting somewhat deeply by doing only 29% of its three points.
From? Shannon played more than 10 minutes only three times. It was either inactive (sidelined by an injury to the groin) or obtained a DNP in eight of the last nine games of the regular season and obtained a minimum playing time in the first round of the eliminatory series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
It is not clear how next season does not take place. Edwards, of course, is there for the long term, and the Divincenzo contract takes place throughout the 2026-27 season. Clark is another year more on his agreement, but Alexander-Walker will be a free agent without restriction. A crowded rear area could remain crowded.
