Terrence Shannon Jr. guides Illinois to Big Ten championship

There were chest bumps and smiles, fist bumps and yells, as the joy of victory overflowed from the Illinois bench when the final buzzer sounded at the Target Center on Sunday afternoon. The second-seeded Illini, who last won the Big Ten Tournament in 2021, had another trophy to hoist, another net to cut down and another night of celebrating after accomplishing that feat again.

They’d defeated fifth-seeded Wisconsin, 93-87, to capture the fourth such tournament title in school history. And they’d done it on the shoulders of their All-American caliber guard, Terrence Shannon Jr., who poured in 34 points and made 15 of his 17 free throws — 10 of which came in the second half — to fend off the Badgers down the stretch.

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“To come here and beat the best teams in college basketball,” head coach Brad Underwood said, “I feel great.”

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Better than ever 

When Shannon decided to return to Illinois for a fifth season of college basketball, the expectations soared for both the player and the program he represented. He was a first-team All-Big Ten selection by the coaches after averaging 17.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game during the 2022-23 campaign, and the hoopla only grew from there.

By the time the 2023-24 season arrived, Shannon was chosen as a unanimous member of the preseason All-Big Ten Team and landed on every watch list imaginable: for the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy, the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year.

Fast-forward to March, and Shannon is playing arguably the best basketball of his career at the ideal time, driving the Illini toward the NCAA Tournament with a rush of momentum after dominating the competition in Minneapolis. He scored 28 points in a quarterfinal win over Ohio State by offsetting a subpar shooting effort (8-for-20 from the field) with a near-perfect display at the free-throw line, where he cashed 10 of 11 attempts. Then he exploded for 40 points in a semifinal win over Nebraska with ruthless efficiency all over the floor: 11-for-22 shooting, 5-for-9 from 3-point range, 13-for-16 from the free-throw line.

Any concerns that Shannon, who averages 22.6 points per game, had expended too much energy or too much scoring ahead of Sunday’s title game were quickly erased when he produced 15 points in the opening half against Wisconsin. His trademark mixture of perimeter shooting, breakneck speed and a willingness to hurl himself through bodies to reach the rim was as potent as it’s ever been. There are few guards in college basketball more difficult to guard.

Shannon willed his Illini across the finish line by scoring 19 points in the second half — attacking, attacking and attacking Wisconsin some more. He attempted 11 free throws over the final 20 minutes alone and knocking down 10 of them in what felt, at times, like a bona fide one-man show. He’s the reason why the Illini racked up 15 fast-break points to more than double their opponent in that category. He’s the reason Illinois has a legitimate chance to make a deep NCAA Tournament run. 

Shannon finished with 102 total points across three games in the Big Ten Tournament.

Reversing the roles

By the time Wisconsin guard Max Klesmit curled into the lane for a leaner that won Friday’s semifinal against Purdue, cutting short the Boilermakers’ bid to win the Big Ten Tournament in back-to-back seasons, center Steven Crowl had already checked out for the final time. The physical and mental toll of defending Zach Edey had chewed him up, worn him down and extracted all five of his fouls. Crowl was a spectator as the final seconds unfolded.

The matchup Crowl encountered during Saturday’s championship game landed on the opposite end of the spectrum: a lithe and wiry and undersized center in Coleman Hawkins who’s known for doing most of his damage on the perimeter. A day after surrendering 4 inches and 53 pounds to Edey, who scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Crowl enjoyed a two-inch and 22-pound advantage over Hawkins.

Wisconsin leaned on Crowl in the early moments of the second half to transform a narrow halftime deficit into a lead that stretched to 10 with 14:38 remaining. He scored on three consecutive possessions by bullying Hawkins the same way Edey had bullied him the day before. Crowl bookended two easy baskets in the lane with a timely 3-pointer from right of the circle for his seventh triple of the tournament. 

With no foul trouble to speak of, Crowl logged 35 minutes to eclipse his playing time in any of Wisconsin’s three previous games. His overall influence included five rebounds and five assists — his most since logging eight dimes against Indiana on Jan. 19 — in addition to 11 points. It was Crowl’s fourth consecutive game in double figures after only accomplishing that feat four times in the 11 games prior to the Big Ten Tournament.

On their shoulders

Among the reasons why this year’s Wisconsin team is far more gifted offensively than any group of Badgers in recent memory was the decision by shooting guard AJ Storr to leave St. John’s and find his way to the Midwest in the transfer portal. He averaged nearly 9 points per game in 33 appearances for the Red Storm as a true freshman last season, but the eventual firing of head coach Mike Anderson prompted him to reassess his future.

The 6-foot-7, 205-pound shooting guard injected Wisconsin with a serum of aggressiveness, athleticism and audacity that reworked the Badgers into one of the 20 best offenses in the country. Gard’s team entered Sunday’s conference championship game having scored at least 75 points in 16 of 34 games, including two of its first three victories in Minneapolis against Maryland and top-seeded Purdue. Storr arrived at the Target Center on Sunday having scored 16 points, 30 points and 20 points since the Big Ten Tournament began.

He sizzled from the opening tip against Illinois, too, cleaving the tournament’s No. 2 seed apart en route to 16 first-half points. Storr’s dizzying blend of 3-point shooting (2-for-4), hard-charging drives through contact (4-for-4 from the free-throw line) and thoughtful finishing around the rim (4 points in the paint) was too much for any Illini defender to handle.

But what made the opening half of Sunday’s title game so fascinating was the way Shannon responded in kind, willing Illinois to a 41-40 lead by pouring in 15 points of his own. Having set a new Big Ten Tournament record by scoring 40 points in a semifinal win over Nebraska the night before, Shannon responded with more of the same: timely 3-point shooting (2-for-3), hellacious attacks of the rim (5-for-6 from the free-throw line) and unrelenting bursts of speed in transition (3 fast-break points). Every time Storr wowed the crowd, Shannon made sure he did the same.

They were the only two players to reach double-figure scoring in a seesawing first half that featured seven ties and seven lead changes.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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