Illinois botches jersey retirement ceremony for Timberwolves rookie Terrence Shannon Jr.

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. – Timberwolves rookie Terrence Shannon Jr. had his No. 0 jersey raised to the rafters by Illinois on Saturday night, but it caused a bit of embarrassment for his university: It was hung up mistakenly upside-down.

Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman apologized for the blunder with Shannon’s jersey.

“Obviously a really regrettable moment. It’s a shame that it happened that way,” Whitman said. ”Of course, I didn’t hang the jersey, but I’m ultimately responsible for everything that happens in this building and ultimately that means that was on me tonight.

“We need to make sure that we understand that in life mistakes happen, but there’s also certain moments where mistakes can’t help and tonight we stole that moment from Terrence and that’s on us and something that we have apologized to him for, apologized to his mom. We want to make sure we apologize to our fans and everyone who was excited to be a part of this experience tonight.”

The jersey was hung correctly after the game.

Shannon has mostly played sparingly with the Wolves this season, although the No. 27 overall pick in last year’s NBA draft has gotten more playing time of late and is averaging 3.1 points per game in 16 games.

With the Illini, he averaged 23.0 points per game last season, the highest scoring average for an Illinois player in 51 years. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten tournament at Target Center, where he scored 102 points over three games for the tournament champions, who made it as far as the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

“It means a lot,” Shannon told reporters before the ceremony. “Just so much love here, it shows all the hard work I put in and it’s paying off. I’m just grateful, man.

Shannon said he found out about the plans for the ceremony before he was even drafted. “I was shocked,” he said. “Because I was only here two years. I was just happy. Grateful to have the opportunity to get my jersey up there.”

Illinois lost to No. 11 Michigan State 79-65 Saturday night, going scoreless for the final 8½ minutes after leading 65-64. That victory enabled Spartans coach Tom Izzo to become the Big Ten’s all-time leader in victories with 354, one more than the late Bob Knight. Izzo is now 354-173 in 30 seasons.

Shannon went to the Michigan State locker room after the game to congratulate Izzo.

“That was really classy. I told Terrence if he hadn’t played here, I’d have done it a lot sooner,” Izzo said.