Tennessee basketball shooting guard Bishop Boswell is not warming up and is out for the Vols’ matchup against Rice on Monday night with a left leg injury, a UT spokesperson told RTI. It’s the second straight game that Boswell has missed.
Boswell missed the North Florida game last week with a right foot injury he suffered against Northern Kentucky. The left leg injury that is sidelining Boswell against Rice is a different injury that occurred during practice. Boswell is day-to-day moving forward.
The foot injury is not believed to be a long term issue and Boswell remains day-to-day with Tennessee’s next game coming Thursday night at Tennessee State.
Boswell started Tennessee’s first two games of the season as well as its exhibition game against Duke and is averaging 5.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and one assist while playing 19.5 minutes per game. He turned in the best game of his young career against Northern Kentucky before suffering the second half injury.
“I thought Bishop did a really good job,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said following the Northern Kentucky game. “I thought he was again locked in defensively, he works so hard on shooting so it was great to see that go in for him which is huge. And he would have played more in the second half, but got his foot stepped on. We just felt like we didn’t need to do it.”
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A sophomore guard, Boswell is the best perimeter defender on Tennessee’s roster and earned the starting spot to begin the season largely because of that.
Louisiana Tech transfer Amaree Abram is starting in place of Boswell against Rice. Abram played the best game of his season last week against North Florida, totaling nine points, three steals and two assists in 13 minutes. Through three games, Abram is averaging three points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.
Ethan Burg started in place of Boswell against North Florida but played only four first half minutes after a pair of early turnovers earned Barnes’ ire. Through three gams this season, Burg is averaging four points and 3.3 assists in 15.7 minutes per game.
Freshman Troy Henderson was the first Vol shooting guard off the bench against the Ospreys. Burg, Henderson, Abram and freshman Amari Evans will all see increased minutes with Boswell sidelined against North Florida.
Tipoff between Tennessee and Rice is at 8:30 p.m. ET on Monday night. Mike Morgan and Dane Bradshaw are on the call for the SEC Network.
