Not long after 17-year-old Kylan Boswell decided last summer to skip his senior season of high school to play for the Arizona Wildcats — while also recovering from a broken foot — UA coach Tommy Lloyd put the brakes on.
Lloyd insisted that Boswell’s age and lack of preseason workouts meant he couldn’t be expected to contribute in a meaningful way until probably January, at some point into Pac-12 play.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on him,” Lloyd said in August.
So, except for when Boswell helped replace the then-suspended Courtney Ramey by playing double-digit minutes in the Wildcats’ first three games of the season, the young freshman played a predictably modest role early this season.
Boswell logged just 13 minutes over three Maui Invitational games, recording only a turnover and a foul in a two-minute appearance against San Diego State. He went on to total nine minutes between the Wildcats’ first two Pac-12 games, at Utah and against Cal, and logged only eight in Arizona’s Top 10 showdown against Tennessee.
Over his first 14 games, Boswell averaged just 1.9 points and 1.7 rebounds.
Then, during Arizona’s 70-67 win over Washington on Thursday at McKale Center, Boswell packed nine points, five rebounds, six assists and a steal – while hitting 3 of 7 3-pointers – into 20 minutes.
It was his 15th game of the season. It was the Wildcats’ fourth Pac-12 game of the season.
It was Jan. 5.
“Nostra … Thomas,” Lloyd said, grinning widely over that self-pun when reminded of his preseason comment. “I wish I could say that, but that kid gets all the credit. He’s tough as nails. He’s got swag.”
Maybe that’s what it takes when you’re doing something you’re really not supposed to be doing.
Instead of playing a backup point-guard role for the nation’s fifth-ranked college basketball team, Boswell was initially scheduled to be spending this season playing for AZ Compass Prep, trying to win a prep national championship and maybe make the McDonald’s All-American Game.
That meant instead of helping the Wildcats edge Washington before a spirited four-figure crowd at McKale Center on Thursday, Boswell could have been preparing for a Jan. 10 showdown … at Basis Chandler, before maybe a handful or two of randomly interested people.
Kind of a different deal.
“Do you know how hard it is to be 17 years old (here)? He should be playing in high school. He should have been playing at Salpointe or something like that,” Lloyd said. “But he's here with us. And to come out and not have it go your way. To sit out for four months. To get your pocket picked in front of the country on national TV against San Diego State — and hang in there and then come out and do this?
“The dude is special, and I think you guys are gonna see that more and more.”
Arizona guard Kylan Boswell takes a swipe at a loose ball near midcourt against Montana State in the second half of their game at McKale Center on Dec. 20, 2022.
His parents saw it coming years ago. They nicknamed Kylan “Bam Bam” for the freakish strength the boy with Samoan heritage flashed as a toddler, once ripping his baby jumper off a door so he could follow his mom into another room.
He was “very much like the ("Flintstones") character,” Kylan’s dad, Brandon, said last spring.
Despite all that, Boswell carries himself with a soft-spoken sort of confidence. That much was evident again late Thursday, when Arizona selected him to join teammate Pelle Larsson for postgame interviews.
“Definitely a crazy roller coaster,” Boswell said of his season so far. “Right now I feel really proud of myself because I know I've been putting a lot of work in and I'm getting to perform like that. I've gotten adjusted now. I definitely have a good feel of college basketball.
"Basically, in college basketball, there’s just more attention to detail and focus. I feel like I can keep doing what I'm doing and I'll be fine.”
For Arizona, Boswell's breakout game was just in time. Boswell has been playing a reserve combo-guard role, but his minutes were sometimes limited in part because Ramey and Kerr Kriisa are veterans who both average 30 minutes a game.
But on Thursday, Ramey struggled more than he has all season. The grad transfer from Texas had just three points and no assists over 20 minutes while shooting 1 for 8 and committing two turnovers.
Ramey sat out the final 3:40 of Thursday's game, which is why it was Boswell who was setting up in the right corner with 54 seconds left and Washington trailing by just four points.
Lloyd said the Wildcats were having "a little bit of a struggle" getting the ball inside or to the high post, and that he felt good about Boswell being opportunistic by taking a corner shot in that moment.
“Obviously, normally, we'd probably play Courtney, but Courtney wasn't playing a great game,” Lloyd said. “And Courtney is a great guy. One of the things we've been talking about as a team all week is … when you're playing these long seasons, there's up and downs, and one of the most important things to being a great teammate and having a great culture is enjoy your teammates' successes.
“I know no one's more happy for Kylan than Courtney Ramey today because that's the kind of guy Courtney is.”
The rest of McKale Center appeared pretty happy for Boswell, too.
The crowd, having stood on its feet for an unexpectedly tense game against an opponent coming off three straight double-digit losses, erupted after Boswell’s final 3, which was just enough to keep the Huskies from getting any closer than one possession the rest of the way.
Almost immediately afterward, too, Arizona posted a photo of Boswell to Twitter that said simply, “HELLO KYLAN BOSWELL.”
Hello, indeed. And, in Lloyd’s apparently prophetic mind, right on schedule.
“That’s why you put the work in, to hit those shots when that time comes,” Boswell said. “Especially with the type of fanbase we have here, it's just a crazy feeling.”
McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.
