Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. celebrates after his dunk against Iowa State during the first half of the Sweet 16 college basketball game in the men’s NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Steven Senne/AP
BOSTON — The TD Garden was electric for Thursday night’s Sweet 16 matchup between No. 2-seeded Iowa State and No. 3-seeded Illinois, radiating bright orange.
Forget the late tipoff time. From the moment the ball was thrown up at center court, the Illini and every fan in attendance cheering for them were charged up. Their power source was, once again, March magician — Terrence Shannon Jr.
In front of a crowd that appeared to be largely in favor of Illinois against the No. 1 defense in the country, Shannon soared like he has all Tournament long. As the stakes get higher, he seemingly only gets better, as was the case in Illinois’ 72-69 win over Iowa State.
Despite getting into foul trouble, which limited him to just six minutes in the second half, Shannon finished with 29 points, five rebounds and two assists.
The first half was littered with highlights from Shannon, but none sent a stronger message than what followed his second steal of the night 12 minutes into the game. After he picked off a pass from Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic, he broke out into the open court and took off through the air from just past the free-throw line. He threw down a dunk with the kind of force reserved for March’s maddest moments and stood in front of the crowd under the basket for an instant, basking in his dominance.
Coming into Thursday’s game, the Cyclones were giving up an average of 57 points per game. The Illini, meanwhile, were scoring an average of 87.7 points per game over their last 10 games.
After shooting just 29% from the field in the first half while allowing Illinois to shoot 41.4%, Iowa State made it a game in the opening minutes of the second.
The Cyclones went on a 6-0 run cutting their 10-point deficit to four out of the break and just when Illinois fans seemed to lose their energy, Shannon delivered by driving the lane and scoring through contact. A three from Coleman Hawkins on the next possession put the Illini back up by seven.
Iowa State cut Illinois’ lead to three points with under a minute to play off a made layup from guard Curtis Jones. Illinois got the ball into Shannon’s hands out of the timeout. He was fouled, and made it a two-possession game from the free-throw line.
On the next play, he got his third steal of the night and all but ended the game with a dunk on the other end.