The Upside Down Night: Terrence Shannon Jr.’s Jersey Honoring & Illinois Basketball vs Michigan State

It was a banner night for Illinois basketball.

This was when the Illini were going to make a massive national statement with the FOX Saturday night primetime slot, Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson were in town, Roundball Rock was playing, and former Illini star Terrence Shannon Jr. was getting his jersey honored as his 0 was being raised to the rafters.

Shannon was a two-time All-Big Ten selection for Illinois after transferring over from Texas Tech. He instantly turned into a star averaging 17.2 in his first season, and followed it up with a 23-point, four-rebound 2024 as he carried the Illini to a Big Ten Tournament championship.

Now he's a part of the Minnesota Timberwolves where he's starting to find his way, scoring 11 points in a loss to Milwaukee and 13 in a win over Oklahoma City just before the all-star break.

With the time off, he got a chance to see his number go up, the crowd was cranked for the big game, the jersey-raising was about to set the tone, and then ...

Well .. this didn't go quite as planned. #Illini #B1G pic.twitter.com/fV88HmVnD7
— Scott Richey (@srrichey) February 16, 2025

The banner was upside down.

It didn't matter. The crowd was bonkers, the team came out roaring, and in a blink it was 19-8 Illinois with the team looking and playing too big, too tough, and too strong for the Spartans.

And then the game turned upside down.

The Illini held a double-digit lead late in the first half, but the Spartans started chipping away. Illinois went cold, but it still did enough to hold a 41-37 lead at halftime.

The big early momentum was squandered, it turned into a back-and-forth fight with plenty of craziness, lots of physical play, and with everything building toward a fantastic finish with a Ben Humrichous jumper making it 65-64 Illinois with 8:30 to play.

That's when the Illini decided they were tired of doing that whole scoring points thing the kids are all into.

Michigan State kept pounding out baskets, and Illinois missed three-pointer after three-pointer after three-pointer as the the offense came to a complete stop.

No driving to the rim to get fouled. No transition points. No easy baskets. No scoring of any kind as Michigan State came up with 17 unanswered points for a 79-65 win.

And then things flipped again - at least for the Shannon banner. After the game, everything was made right.

Brad Underwood, Josh Whitman and Terrence Shannon Jr team up for a photo#illini honor a former all American who led them to the elite 8

Illinois loses a tough one to Michigan state pic.twitter.com/W8r1kYiOFX
— Carson Gourdie (@GourdieReport) February 16, 2025

And now there's a problem.

Illinois has a trip to Wisconsin up next, and then comes a date in New York City against Duke, and then the regular season closes out with Iowa, at Michigan, and Purdue before the Big Ten Tournament.

Illinois will go to the NCAA Tournament, none of this matters as long as there's a good weekend in the middle of March, and the team is good enough to flip things back around fast.