Davonte Davis previews matchup against Terrence Shannon

During the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Arkansas faced off against Texas Tech in the Round of 32. In that game, Terrence Shannon dropped 20 points — and he’s gearing up to face the Razorbacks again this week now that he’s with Illinois.

Davonte Davis, a 2023 SEC All-Defense Team nominee, was likely part of Arkansas’ defensive attack in that game as a freshman. Now, the task is going to be taller considering Shannon is a key piece of the Fighting Illini offense. He leads the Fighting Illini in scoring with 17.1 points per game and earned All-Big Ten recognition as a result.

“I think I guarded him a little bit two years ago,” Davis said. “He’s gotten good and with the team he’s on now, he’s got the ball in his hand more and he’s ball dominant. It’s not just me guarding him, it’s the whole team. We’re coming into the game knowing we are helping each other on defense guarding him and his teammates for sure.”

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Illinois has had an interesting year, to say the least. The Fighting Illini have some good wins — beating Texas and UCLA are good resume-boosters — but also some avoidable losses. Either way, Brad Underwood’s group can still make some noise.

Eric Musselman thinks his team is prepared for whatever Illinois throws at them, though, considering the SEC received eight bids to the big dance. He thinks that tough schedule has the Razorbacks ready to roll for a potential March run.

“The talent level of players, the coaching level, the fanbases,” Musselman said. “This year was the biggest crowds that I’ve seen since I’ve been in the SEC, when we went on the road. Almost every building that we played in on the road was sold out with maybe the exception of South Carolina.

“So everything in this league, and then you look at our schedule overall in the SEC, it was as difficult as any conference schedule in all of college basketball. Then you add in the fact who we played at the end, really hard games, even the two games that we played in the SEC Tournament. We played two teams that are now in the NCAA Tournament. Our team’s been challenged all year and we’ll be challenged against a team like Illinois as well.”