Illinois Basketball Star Arrested on Rape Charges
This has not been a very good couple of weeks for the sport of basketball.
Last week, a horrific story surfaced of a G League player being arrested for the murder of a woman in Las Vegas.
This week, another story broke regarding the arrest of Terrence Shannon Jr., a guard for the #11 ranked Illinois men’s basketball team.
Horrific Crime
The Douglas County district attorney’s office in Kansas announced the arrest warrant for Shannon on Wednesday.
He is being charged for an alleged sexual assault that reportedly took place in September.
Shannon has already surrendered to police and was placed under arrest in Lawrence, KS, on Thursday.
He has formally been charged with “rape; sexual intercourse without consent and use of force.”
According to the filing, the alleged crime took place when Shannon was in Kansas to attend the football game between the University of Kansas and the University of Illinois.
The University of Illinois stated that Shannon was “not in Lawrence on official University business, nor was he a member of the University’s travel party.”
Shannon reportedly posted $50,000 bail after the arrest and is headed back to Illinois, but he has been suspended from the team.
The school reportedly knew about the investigation but had no “actionable” information at that time, so there was no discipline administered against Shannon until the charges were announced.
Shannon has retained Illinois-based attorney Mark P. Sutter to represent him.
Sutter has already released a statement that Shannon is not guilty and he plans on going to trial to prove his innocence.
From a basketball perspective, this is devasting for the team, as Shannon is the leading scorer, the leading 3-point shooter, and the leading shot-blocker on the team. He is averaging 21.7 points per game, almost double the next leading scorer on the team.
That, of course, does not even take into account his chances of turning pro, which he can kiss goodbye with a guilty verdict at his trial.
