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Illinois horribly fumbles jersey retirement ceremony for Terrence Shannon Jr.
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Illinois brought back Terrence Shannon Jr. on Saturday night to hang his jersey in the rafters inside State Farm Center.
It should have been a celebratory moment for a player who led Illinois to the Elite Eight last season — the program’s deepest tournament run since 2004-05. Instead, it became a moment of national embarrassment for the program. During the halftime ceremony, when Shannon pulled a cord to unveil his jersey, fans in the crowd gasped as the banner was revealed to be upside down.
Illinois was slammed on social media for the gaffe. After the game, athletic director Josh Whitman took responsibility for the mistake and apologized to Shannon’s family.
“Before we get into the substance of the game tonight, obviously, we had a regrettable situation at halftime with the jersey around Terrence’s celebration,” Whitman said. “Obviously, a really regrettable moment. It’s a shame that it happened that way.
“Of course, I didn’t hang the jersey but I’m ultimately responsible for everything that happens in this building and ultimately that means that was on me tonight. We need to make sure we understand that in life, mistakes happen, but there are also certain moments where mistakes can’t happen. And tonight, we stole that moment from Terrence and that’s on us and something that we have apologized to him for, apologized to his mom. We want to make sure that we apologize to our fans and everybody who was excited to be a part of this experience tonight.”
Shannon averaged 23 points per game last season for the Illini. He was selected to the AP All-America third team. He spent 2 seasons with the program after transferring from Texas Tech, during which he made 61 starts and averaged 20.2 points.
Whitman said the retirement ceremony was planned months in advance and that only added to the disappointment. He said they corrected the banner once the game was over and gave Shannon a chance to take photos with coach Brad Underwood on the court, but “nothing we can do to recreate that moment.”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
