March Madness 2024: Illinois’ Elite Eight run led by Terrence Shannon Jr., who faces rape charge, isn’t talking to media [Video]

BOSTON — Illinois’ season could have ended up a lot different.

The Illini opened the season thriving behind Terrence Shannon Jr., who established himself as one of the premier scorers in the nation.

And then they were thrust into uncertainty in December when Shannon was charged with rape or an alternative count of sexual battery from an incident that occurred in Kansas in September. A woman told police she was at a bar when a man she later identified as Shannon grabbed her buttocks and then reached under her skirt and touched her sexually. The woman said the bar was so crowded, she couldn’t move.

The charge led to Shannon being suspended for six games before a federal judge reinstated him, ruling his civil rights had been violated. Shannon’s attorneys have said he’s innocent. The fifth-year senior guard has been silent beyond that, not speaking to the media since, while steering his team within a win of the program’s first Final …