Illini basketball player Terrence Shannon Jr. to face trial on rape charge

CHICAGO (CBS) -- University of Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr. will face trial on charges he sexually assaulted a woman in Kansas last fall.

CBS affiliate WCIA-TV reports a Kansas judge on Friday determined there was sufficient probable cause for the case against Shannon to go to trial. His trial date was tentatively set for June 10.

In December, Shannon was charged with rape and sexual battery , and he was suspended from the team. He has pleaded not guilty.

In January, Shannon filed a lawsuit challenging the suspension. Federal Judge Colleen Lawless allowed Shannon to return to the team , noting the suspension would cause irreparable harm to his name, image and likeness, and future career earnings.

If he is selected in the first-round NBA draft pick on June 26, Shannon will earn between $2 million and $3.5 million a year.

Shannon is accused of sexually assaulting a woman while he was visiting Lawrence, Kansas, in September 2023 to attend the Kansas-Illinois football game.

According to court documents in the case, Illini graduate assistant DyShawn Hobson drove Shannon and a teammate, Justin Harmon, from Champaign at the direction of Illinois assistant coaches. Hobson is also Shannon's roommate.

Shannon, Hobson, and Harmon met members of the Kansas basketball team at the Jayhawk Café, where Shannon allegedly grabbed a woman's buttocks and "digitally penetrated her vagina without her consent," according to court filings. Shannon drove home hours later.

Before the victim reported the incident to police, investigators found that she had used her phone to search images of the Kansas basketball and football teams and the Illinois basketball team to identify Shannon as her attacker, court records show.

Shannon claimed that there were no witnesses. Court documents indicate there were surveillance cameras in the crowded bar. The charging documents in the case list two witnesses, Cori A Green and another using their initials.