Terrence Shannon is making the most of Illinois’ blunder.
The former Illini star, who had his jersey retirement ceremony botched last weekend, dropped an incredible new shirt making light of the incident. All proceeds from the shirt, which features the upside-down jersey, will benefit a local Champaign, Illinois, Boys and Girls Club.
Illinois retired Shannon’s jersey at the State Farm Center on Saturday night at halftime of their 79-65 loss to Michigan State. But when the school revealed his jersey and started raising it up into the rafters, everyone in attendance collectively noticed something was very wrong.
The jersey was completely upside down.
Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman apologized to Shannon and others after the game and took responsibility for the error. He said they fixed the banner so that Shannon and his family could take a photo in front of it, too.
“Obviously, a really regrettable moment, “ Whitman said. “It’s a shame that it happened that way … 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.”
While it’s a ridiculous error, Shannon doesn’t seem too bothered by the whole thing now, a few days removed.
Shannon spent two seasons at Illinois, where he transferred after getting his start at Texas Tech. Shannon averaged 20.2 points and 4.3 rebounds throughout his career with the Illini, and he dropped 736 points during the 2023-24 campaign — which set a new school record. He led Illinois to the Elite Eight that season, too, which was their deepest NCAA tournament run since they made it to the championship game in 2005.
Shannon briefly missed time during his final season after he was suspended and charged with sexual assault following an incident in Kansas. Shannon was eventually reinstated and found not guilty.
Shannon is currently in his first season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who selected him with the No. 27 overall pick in the draft. He’s averaged 3.1 points and has averaged eight minutes of playing time over 16 games during his rookie campaign. The Timberwolves, who sit at 31-25 on the year, will return from the All-Star break on Friday against the Houston Rockets.
