The Illinois men's basketball team appeared to be in cruise control mode entering Wednesday night's eventual 89-70 win against the Maryland Terrapins to win its eighth in a row.
But the Fighting Illini (16-3, 7-1 Big Ten) will face a major setback despite being No. 11 nationally as the heart of the Big Ten schedule takes shape.
Coach Brad Underwood revealed during Tuesday's media scrum that senior guard Kylan Boswell would miss time (until at least the middle of February) with a broken right hand. It was an injury sustained in Monday's practice, which had Boswell previously seen action in all 53 of his Illinois career games (with 52 starts) before the sudden injury.
Underwood shared how the team has handled Boswell's in-game absence ahead of a huge game against the No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers (17-2, 7-1 Big Ten) in West Lafayette, Saturday (3 p.m. ET, Fox).
"You’re just sick. I get a knot in my stomach for Kylan," Underwood told reporters.
Underwood said before the first game without Boswell, the team has reacted positively, hoping he makes a speedy recovery while still being an active member of the team from the bench.
"It's not a situation that we've not had previously here in my time [at Illinois]," Underwood said. "It's one of the things that we do is we find a way and we'll continue to do that. Our thoughts are with Kylan. It's very, very unfortunate. Can't wait to get him back in February. He'll be an integral part of everything we do from the coaching side of it. When he's not with [athletic trainer Justin Games] or [strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher], he'll be with us. He's still an integral part of everything that we're doing, even though he's not on the court."
Underwood said Illinois is a work in progress without Boswell, but it doesn't mean the team loses sight of where it's going.
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"It could be anybody," Underwood said of who steps up next. "It's not one person. It's going to be a lot of different guys having to move into different roles. You don't replace Kylan defensively. It's going to take an adjustment from everybody to do just a little bit better defensively, especially on that end. It will take everybody. I'm not going to single out one person. It's going to take the whole crew."
Illinois will need "the whole crew" or as much as it can get out of it. Purdue has won nine of its last 10 games, as it suffered a surprising West Coast road loss to the UCLA Bruins (13-6, 5-3 Big Ten), 69-67, on Tuesday.
If the Illini win without Boswell, it's an eye-opener. If it does not, it's a bit of a reset for what the next few weeks may look like.
Come Saturday afternoon, those questions will be answered.
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