No. 3 Illinois is through to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament after dominating its first two games in Greenville, South Carolina, last weekend. Winning is a great feeling, but one that could end at any moment. Seniors Kylan Boswell, AJ Redd and Ben Humrichous know that all too well. This is their last stretch of college basketball, but they want to keep dancing.
For Boswell, he’s probably got the most emotion tied to the Illini jersey and name. Growing up in Champaign and having the opportunity to come back and represent his hometown school on a national stage has been a “blessing.” Boswell clearly wants to keep his run going, but he isn’t going to let the feelings of what could happen affect his preparation. It’s all business as usual, even at The Big Dance.
“I think, if you come in with that type of mindset, I feel a sense of timidness that you don’t need,” Boswell said.
Humrichous agreed with Boswell — being nervous is not something he feels in what could be his final moments on a college court. Instead “excitement” is how he would describe it. Knowing that another game is not guaranteed is just more motivation for Humrichous to put his head down and work hard.
“It kind of provides an urgency when you go throughout today to make sure that you’re prepared for the game, but then when you’re in the game, knowing that you only have one game left or one day left makes you want to play with all that you have, not only for your teammates but for yourself too,” Humrichous said.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Whatever ends up happening for Illinois, Boswell knowing that he gave it his all will allow him to be at peace whenever the season does inevitably end, whether that’s with a loss or a national championship. But up until that final buzzer sounds, he’s only worried about being where his feet are.
“At some point in my time frame after the season, win or lose, however the outcome happens, I’ll be playing more basketball somewhere else, wherever that may be,” Boswell said. “I just have to just put my whole of my focus on trying our best to win the game. Whatever the outcome of that game is, I’ll accept it whenever that time’s over, but during the game, just focus.”
Illinois’ third senior, Redd, has only played a combined 78 minutes of college basketball over four seasons at Illinois, but just the same as Boswell and Humrichous, he wants to achieve the ultimate goal: a national title. Unlike his teammates, when this season comes to an end, Redd will step away from basketball and move into the corporate world. That makes his last moments wearing the orange and blue, whether he’s on the court or not, even sweeter.
“I would describe it as just trying to soak everything in, don’t take anything for granted,” Redd said. “Obviously, there’s a little bit of nerves, you know, going into every game because every game could be your last. But there’s also a big sense of confidence knowing how good this team is, how much we prepared the work that we put in over the season.”
Redd’s manager-to-walk-on story remains one of the best in the sport. However, he’s still adding more to the book. After scoring a career-high 5 points on Senior Night, Redd got one more moment to shine, scoring his first March Madness points against No. 14 Penn in the first round.
“Those are my first shot attempts, too, in March Madness — so that’s pretty cool,” Redd said. “You know, it’s not something that a lot of people can say that they did. So that was exciting for me and, you know, just a great moment that I was able to share with my teammates and my family, too.”
@sahil_mittal24
