It has been a topsy-turvy ride this season so far for the Illinois Fighting Illini. That adventure continued Wednesday night, with Illinois basketball losing to the red-hot Northwestern Wildcats on the road to the tune of a 73-60 score.
The challenging season the Fighting Illini are having isn't making a dent in the confidence of Illinois basketball senior forward Terrence Shannon Jr., though. In fact, Shannon has made a prediction that his team will be the first Big Ten team to beat the Wisconsin Badgers when the two programs collide on Saturday, via Derek Piper of the Illini Inquirer:
Asked Terrence Shannon Jr. about how the team is handling adversity…
“We're gonna handle it good. I'm gonna make sure we handle it good.. Next game, we got Wisconsin coming in our home. 14th in the country & we gotta get that win. We're gonna knock 'em off.”
That's enough bulletin board material for Wisconsin, which is undefeated in three games in conference play, to date. Shannon, meanwhile, will have to come up with a much better performance against the Badgers than the one he put up in the loss to Northwestern if Illinois basketball is to deliver on his guarantee this coming weekend down in Champaign. Shannon was held down to just nine points on a 3-for-8 shooting from the field by the Wildcats.
Illinois basketball has not won consecutive games since November. After beating the Syracuse Orange on Nov. 29, the Fighting Illini have gone 3-4 overall, including a 2-3 slate against Power Five programs.
Follow Us
Subscribe