Texas Tech basketball's Terrence Shannon Jr. enters transfer portal, considering return

The offseason has begun.

A day after suffering a 78-73 loss to Duke, the Texas Tech men's basketball team may be without the services of a key contributor.

Terrence Shannon, Jr., who finished with eight points in the defeat, confirmed to the Avalanche-Journal on Friday that he is entering the transfer portal but still considering a return to the Red Raiders.

Kentucky and Illinois are the favorites if he chooses to transfer, per Adam Zagoria, who owns zagsblog.com.

The 6-foot-7 junior wing averaged 10.4 points per game, which ranked him second behind senior Bryson Williams at a 14.1 point per contest mark. Williams exhausted his eligibility.

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Shannon, who also averaged 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest, poured in a season-best 23 points in a home win against West Virginia — marking one of three times he eclipsed the 20-point threshold during the 2021-2022 campaign.

He finished 14 games in single digits with one of those performances consisting of him injuring his knee following a dunk attempt in the first half before returning to end with nine in a road victory against West Virginia.

Shannon also missed his first three games of the season as a precaution as Texas Tech clarified his eligibility after he declared for the NBA Draft and returned to school. If he declared for the NBA Draft again, Shannon would not be eligible to play in college.

In his first game back, following his three games off, he was a factor before nagging back issues and other injuries kept him from playing at 100% health throughout the season.

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A year prior, the Chicago native averaged 12.9 points per game behind Mac McClung who tallied 15.5 points per contest during the 2021 campaign. As a freshman, he finished the year netting 9.8 points per game.

After decommitting from DePaul back in 2018, and choosing the Red Raiders, Shannon considered Florida State, Georgetown and Illinois.

Williams is one of four players to leave due to graduation: Marcus Santos-Silva, Adonis Arms and Davion Warren. Kevin Obanor, Kevin McCullar, Clarence Nadolny and Mylik Wilson are eligible to return as seniors.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Terrence Shannon Jr. in transfer portal, still considering Texas Tech