The journey back home to Champaign has been a long time coming for Kylan Boswell.
The Illinois junior guard, who grew up there, spent high school and for his first two years of his collegiate career out west before joining his childhood team this past spring via the transfer portal and playing in the NCAA Tournament for the third time on March 21 in Milwaukee.
He was raised in Champaign through eighth grade before playing at Centennial High School in Corona, California for his first two seasons. As a sophomore, he helped Centennial defeat the famed Sierra Canyon High School in the California state playoffs, where Boswell, alongside future New Mexico star point guard Donovan Dent (who also played a crucial role in New Mexico’s first-round win over Marquette), paved the way to a state title, with future NBA draft picks Amari Bailey and Bronny James, playing for Sierra Canyon at the time.
He then transferred to Arizona Compass Prep in Phoenix, Arizona for his junior year of high school, committed to Arizona, proceeded to reclassify to the 2022 recruiting class and skipped his senior season of prep basketball to enroll early with the Wildcats.
After his sophomore year in Tucson, he entered the portal and returned to his childhood hometown. After he joined Illinois last April, Big Ten Network analyst Trent Meacham spoke highly of Boswell’s talent.
“He’s a Champaign kid, maybe the best kid ever from the area, coming back to put on that orange and blue jersey,” Meacham said.
Despite previously playing in The Big Dance with the Arizona Wildcats, Boswell said representing his hometown this time around gave him a different perspective while playing in the tournament.
“It means everything for me,” Boswell said after Illinois’ first-round 86-73 win over Xavier. “I have my family here, watching me in the hometown jersey playing in my third time going around March Madness. Playing for Coach Underwood, all these guys, it’s been a blessing, I’m really glad I made the decision to come here, but it means so much to me.”
Going into the halftime, Boswell sank a 3-pointer to give the Fighting Illini some extra momentum for the next 20 minutes. He finished with 15 points in 39 minutes of action in the win.
“I’ve got to do whatever it takes to help our team win,” Boswell said. “If it’s guarding the best guy, helping better facilitate for my team, I feel like I’m very versatile, especially on this team, and Coach (Underwood) puts me in those positions to be my best, but just trying to help the team win at all times.”
Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said that Boswell’s toughness was a key factor in the matchup against the Musketeers, primarily being matched up against Xavier junior guard Ryan Conwell, and he only finished with 12 points in Friday’s outing.
“It’s what he does,” Underwood said. “Tough as heck, you go chase Conwell around for 40 minutes, and the amount of running, then cut down, and it would be effective on the offensive end.
“He’s tough, he’s gritty, he’s a veteran, he’s got a winning mindset, that rubs off and I can’t say enough positive things about Kylan.”
High praise for the hometown kid.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at michael.severson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.