BOSTON — If Iowa State wants to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2000, it will have to find a way to get through Terrence Shannon Jr.Shannon is a perfect 6-0 against the Cyclones, and he will have a chance to improve that record on Thursday when Illinois and Iowa State meet in a battle of East Region teams in the Sweet 16.All six of Shannon’s previous victories vs. the second-seeded Cyclones came when he was at Texas Tech, and he averaged 10.0 points per game across those contests.Since joining the third-seeded Fighting Illini (28-8) last season, Shannon has blossomed. He is averaging a team-high 23.3 points per game in 2023-24, most recently scoring 30 on 10-of-14 shooting in Illinois’ 89-63 rout of No. 11 seed Duquesne on Saturday.Rather than focusing on the damage that Shannon and Illinois have the potential to do, Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger is more concerned with how his team executes its own game plan.”I would just say we believe in our way of doing things, and we certainly want to be aware of tendencies of our opponents and things that we can prepare for,” Otzelberger said. “But we spend a lot more time focusing on us being the best version of ourselves.”So we will absolutely be very mindful of that opportunity, and at the same time, my messaging to our guys is going to be to continue to focus on us, being the best team that we can be.”The Cyclones (29-7), who rank fourth in the country in scoring defense at 61.3 points allowed per game, beat seventh-seeded Washington State 67-56 in the second round. They got 15 points from Tamin Lipsey and 14 from Curtis Jones.Iowa State overcame an ice-cold start in which it went 1-for-13 from the field and scored just four points through the game’s first nine minutes.Points could be hard to come by again on Thursday against a Fighting Illini defense that just held Duquesne star Dae Dae Grant to seven points on 2-of-9 shooting. Grant came into the game averaging 16.7 points.Still, forward Coleman Hawkins doesn’t believe Illinois has hit its ceiling.”I feel really confident in this team because I feel like there is still something missing that we haven’t reached yet,” Hawkins said. “I think there is a whole other level of intensity that we can play with, both offensively and defensively.”