Illinois Guard Kylan Boswell Out At Least a Month With Fractured Hand
Illinois guard Kylan Boswell has fractured his right hand and will be out at least a month, head coach Brad Underwood announced on Tuesday.
“He’ll be out for a little bit,” Underwood said. “I’m expecting a mid-February return to action for him. Unfortunate. I feel terrible for Kylan as he’s a senior and he’s having such a phenomenal year. But it’s the next man up mentality with our team.”
The injury occurred when Boswell collided with a player in practice.
The senior point guard is the defensive anchor for Illinois and shoulders the majority of the ball handling duties along with breakout freshman Keaton Wagler. Boswell is averaging a career-best 14.3 points this season to go with 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.
His absence will be a big blow for the Illini, who were starting to hit their stride as winners of seven in a row. The Illini take on Maryland at home on Wednesday before traveling to No. 4 Purdue on Saturday.
Wagler’s role now becomes ever-more important, and the Illini will likely lean more on Serbian point guard Mihailo Petrovic as well, who’s averaged just 2.6 points in 7.8 minutes this season. Wagler and Petrovic are the only two primary ball handlers left with Boswell out.
“We’ve been able to develop good depth and we’ll see what that looks like as we move forward,” Underwood said.
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