Illinois guard Kylan Boswell fractured his right hand in practice and is expected to be out until at least mid-February, coach Brad Underwood told reporters Tuesday.
The loss of Boswell, the team’s senior leader, is a blow to the No. 11 Illini just as their Big Ten schedule begins to ramp up. In the next three weeks, Illinois has three top-10 road matchups: Saturday at No. 4 Purdue, Feb. 1 at No. 7 Nebraska and Feb. 7 at No. 10 Michigan State.
Boswell is second on the team with 14.3 points per game to go with 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in a team-high 31.7 minutes per game. He typically takes on the opponent’s best player on defense.
After Illinois’ win at Northwestern on Wednesday, Underwood called the 6-foot-2 Boswell an “all caps, PROBLEM SOLVER,” after he had 13 points and six assists and helped defend 6-7 Wildcats forward Nick Martinelli. Martinelli scored 20 points, below his Big Ten-leading 23.7 average.
Northwestern forward Nick Martinelli is defended by Illinois guards Andrej Stojaković (2) and Kylan Boswell (4) in the first half Jan. 14, 2026, at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
“It’s just nice to have a guy that versatile,” Underwood said of Boswell. “He solves a lot of problems for us. You look down and he’s playing 37 minutes because of a back issue with Keaton (Wagler). He’s driving the ball to the basket. He’s getting fouled. He’s assisting. I tip my hat to him because he’s playing at an extremely high level and doing it on both ends.”
Freshman guard Wagler leads the Illini with 16.1 points per game, but they will need others to step up. First-year point guard Mihailo Petrović has played in only 11 games, averaging just 7.9 minutes. But Underwood praised him after he had four points and three rebounds in six minutes in Illinois’ win against Minnesota on Saturday.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/20/illinois-kylan-boswell-fractured-hand/



