Illinois suspended Shannon on Thursday after he was charged with rape for an alleged incident that happened when the football team played at Kansas in September. Whitman spoke at a news conference Friday before Illinois’ game against Fairleigh Dickinson.
Dain Dainja scored 19 points, Coleman Hawkins and Justin Harmon each had 18, Quincy Guerrier added 14 and Marcus Domask 11 for the Illini (10-2). Harmon made a career-high four 3-pointers.
The school suspended Shannon from “all team activities, effective immediately,” a day after the Douglas (Kansas) County District Attorney issued a warrant for his arrest. The alleged incident happened when he attended the Illini’s football game at Kansas on Sept. 8.
Jonas Aidoo scored 14 and Josiah-Jordan James scored 12 points and had seven assists. Quincy Guerrier and Terrence Shannon scored 22 each to lead Illinois. Coleman Hawkins had 12. The Illini were limited to 33% shooting from the field.
Playing in this event for the second consecutive year, the Fighting Illini won their fifth straight game thanks to Domask and Shannon, who combined for 49 points after halftime and finished a combined 25 of 35 from the field.
The game featured the top two defenses in the Big Ten, and Illinois got the better of Rutgers by holding the Scarlet Knights to 33% shooting.
John Paddock completed 24 of 34 passes for 334 yards and three touchdowns and Reggie Love III ran for 106 yards for Illinois.
Camille Hobby made a layup with just under 20 seconds left to make it 68-67 but King hit two from the line at 14.1. Hobby had 18 points and seven rebounds for Illinois
CHAMPAIGN — John Paddock threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Williams in overtime to give Illinois a 48-45 win Saturday over Indiana in a Big Ten game. After Indiana’s Chris Freeman kicked a 41-yard field goal in OT, Paddock scrambled to his right and connected with Williams near the end zone. Paddock threw for…
Oakland took an early 8-0 lead before Illinois went ahead for the first time 17-15 and led by just one at halftime.
The Illini faced fourth-and-11 from their 15-yard line with 1:24 left when John Paddock came in cold with the drive of his life that knocked the Gophers out of their tie for first place in the diluted Big Ten West Division.
Illinois build a 14-7 lead in the first half at halftime, then added a 12-yard touchdown run in the third quarter by Kaden Feagin for a 21-7 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Caleb Griffin kicked a 43-yard field goal as time expired to give Illinois its first Big Ten victory of the season, a 27-24 upset of Maryland.
The Illini scored their only touchdown with 1:31 left in the first half when Pat Bryant caught a perfectly thrown 46-yard touchdown pass from Luke Altmyer.
Butkis was a star linebacker, fullback and kicker at Chicago Vocational High who went on to play at the University of Illinois.