Good Morning, Illini Nation: Taking the good with the bad

May 14—Kylan Boswell was the only Illinois guard of the three in Chicago this week for the NBA draft combine that opted to play five-on-five.

Keaton Wagler was all set simply going through the physical testing and shooting drills. The one-and-done Illini is viewed as a lock as a lottery pick. No need to play. Andrej Stojakovic simply chose not to, leaving his on-court presence to workouts with NBA teams during the pre-draft process.

That left Boswell, who played in the second of two games Wednesday at Wintrust Arena. It wasn't the best afternoon for the Illinois guard — or his team — as Baylor's Cameron Carr and Tennessee's Ja'Kobi Gillespie combined for 58 points on 19 of 35 shooting, including an 11 of 20 mark from three-point range.

Boswell defended both at various points throughout the game, but was far from the only Team Weems guard that struggled to slow down that Team Rivers duo in a 105-99 victory for the latter.

"Cam and Kob were on some Curry and Klay stuff," Boswell quipped. The Illinois guard finished with six points, knocking down a pair of threes, to go with three assists and two rebounds.

Five-on-five at the combine, Boswell added, was far different than the three games he played at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament last month in Portsmouth, Va. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 11.7 points, 10.3 assists, 3.7 steals and two rebounds and made the all-tournament team.

"You're playing the best of the best," Boswell said of the talent elevation at the combine. "There's a reason we're all here. (At Portsmouth) there's a lot of 'got to get yours' and trying your best to get the invite for the combine. For me, it's continuing to try to play the right way — playing as hard as I can and trying to guard the best way I possibly can."