Illinois guard/ahead Terrence Shannon Jr. was discovered not responsible of felony rape and aggravated sexual assault on Thursday, a verdict that prompted an outpouring of assist from quite a few buddies and supporters.
Illinois basketball coach Brad Underwood additionally tweeted his assist on Thursday evening within the type of an image of him and his star participant. It had been considered almost 300,000 instances as of the early hours of Friday morning.
Shannon Jr. transferred to Illinois in 2022-2023, molding himself into a probable first spherical choose on this month’s NBA Draft.Â
Shannon Jr. thrived behind the tutelage of Underwood, ending with profession highs of 17.2 and 23.0 factors per recreation in Champagne, Illinois throughout his two seasons with the Combating Illini.Â
The 6-foot-6, 225-pound senior guard/ahead was projected to go twenty third general to the New Orleans Pelicans in a mock draft launched earlier this week. Shannon Jr. has been mocked as excessive as choose 12 to the hometown Chicago Bulls.Â
The Chicago native has proven he has what it takes to play his finest basketball in large recreation conditions, scoring 34 factors to guide Illinois previous the Wisconsin Badgers within the Massive Ten Event championship recreation this previous March.Â
Shannon Jr. averaged 23 factors and 4 rebounds this previous season whereas taking pictures nearly 48% from the sphere.Â
The quantity of assist from Shannon Jr.’s teammates has been overwhelming in current weeks.
Shannon Jr.’s legal professional, Tricia Bathtub, mentioned it was “a travesty that it took this lengthy for justice to be achieved on this case.”
“I feel the jury rendered an accurate verdict, however I do not assume we ever ought to have been right here,” she mentioned, in response to the Chicago Tribune.Â
Shannon Jr. testified on Thursday as members of the family seemed on, vehemently denying the allegations.
“I by no means touched, grabbed, pulled over … That didn’t occur,” Shannon Jr. mentioned to the jury in response to accusations made by an 18-year-old girl he allegedly met a Kansas bar.
