Tennessee basketball sophomore guard Bishop Boswell makes a living off hustle plays.
His exemplary role often doesn’t show up in stat sheets. It’s one he learned under Jahmai Mashack a season ago. The one true person who cannot understate his value is 11th-year Vols head coach Rick Barnes — and there may not be a pedestal higher than the one he hoists Boswell on.
“We’re watching Bishop just get better and better every day, and I want him to become really one of the best players in the country,” Barnes said. “And I think he’s got the ability to do it.”
Boswell is coming off a career night where he made impacts beyond putting the ball in the basket. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native posted four points (2-for-8 shooting), seven rebounds and a career-best eight assists in Wednesday’s 73-64 win over Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum.
Six of those eight dishes came in the first 11 minutes of the game.
“He’s worked hard,” Barnes said. “I had great respect for the way he came in here as a freshman behind players that he knew that were going play, but yet he was willing to learn from those guys, which I do think he did. And this year, being thrust into a situation where he’s not afraid to take on any challenge that we give him.”
The next step on the offensive side is letting the game come to him.
“We knew that his offense would continue to be a work in progress, which I think that is with most guys as they continue to learn the game,” Barnes said. “He’s got to slow himself down on offense because he plays at such a rapid, competitive pace defensively, which you can almost like a reckless abandon type, which you can do (on defense). But you can’t do that on offense. But he’ll get there. I mean, he’s already starting to get there. I just think the more he plays the game, the more the offensive end is going to slow down for him.”
Since SEC play began at the start of the year, Boswell has been one of the conference’s best rebounders. He stands at 6-foot-4 with a littered frontcourt of physical strength, but he slims his way to the glass as the competitor he is.
Boswell is averaging 6.7 rebounds per contest in league play, putting him at No. 9 in the conference — ahead of all of his frontcourt teammates. He adds on 7.5 points, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals a night as the do-it-all gadget that Mashack handled a year ago.
It is a unique, lost art in basketball.
The selfless Boswell sat and learned a year ago. The wisdom he has soaked up is being imparted to the youth around him. Troy Henderson, a self-proclaimed defensive weakness, has taken the opportunity to improve on the end Boswell takes pride in.
“He plays with tremendous effort, and I think everybody needs that ability in the SEC,” Henderson said. “And everybody’s taking notes from him as he play hard on the defensive side.”
The way Boswell fights off screens to contest shots is what Henderson thinks goes overlooked. He sees it firsthand in practice daily.
“It’s hard, yeah,” Henderson said. “It’s really fun.”
Boswell and the Vols take the court Saturday, Feb. 14, against LSU for a 6 p.m. EST tip at Food City Center.
