The Illinois Fighting Illini might still not have senior Terrence Shannon ready to go for Monday night's matchup against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at home. Illinois basketball has dropped its last two games, including Saturday's 71-68 defeat at the hands of the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington which Shannon missed due to concussion.

Via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports:

“Illinois' Terrence Shannon Jr. (concussion) is “day-to-day” and his status for tonight's game against Minnesota is still TBD, per Brad Underwood. DNP on Saturday against Indiana. Averages 17 PPG and 5 RPG.”

Shannon is a huge piece of Illinois basketball so his absence is hurting the Fighting Illini, especially during this juncture of the season when teams are trying to pick up important wins and avoid losses in order to strengthen their resumes for March Madness. Shannon is leading Illinois basketball this season with 17.0 points per game while posting a 50.9 eFG% and 57.6 TS%.

Even if Shannon ultimately gets ruled out for the game against the Golden Gophers, Illinois basketball should still be able to find a way to win comfortably opposite a lowly opponent. This will be the second time this season that Illinois and Minnesota meet on the court, with the Fighting Illini winning the first meeting last January, 78-60. Shannon shot an atrocious 2-for-12 line from the field in that contest, but Matthew Mayer covered for him by scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

The Fighting Illini currently own a 17-9 overall record and an 8-7 slate in Big Ten play.

Shannon played for three seasons with the Texas Tech Red Raiders before transferring to Illinois in 2022.