Illinois Basketball 2024-2025 Awards: Transfer of the Year

This week Illinois on SI will announce its 2024-25 men's basketball awards – one each, Monday through Friday – to honor the individual contributions of last season's Illini.

Defensive Player of the Year: Tomislav Ivisic

Facing a near-complete roster overhaul an offseason ago, Illinois dipped into the transfer portal and filled its cup: five transfers in total, one of the largest such figures in college basketball last season. The results? Mixed, but positive on the whole.

So it's time to look back, assess and tab the player who arrived in Champaign via the portal that made the greatest impact in 2024-25.

Eligible players included Carey Booth (transferred from Notre Dame), Kylan Boswell (Arizona), Jake Davis (Mercer), Ben Humrichous (Evansville) and Tre White (Louisville).

Illinois on SI Transfer of the Year: Kylan Boswell

2024-2025 stats: 12.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.1 steals per game

A two-way threat, Boswell was an integral part of Illinois' schemes on both ends of the floor and stepped forward to become arguably the team's most important leader and clutchest crunch-time player.

Listed at (a perhaps generous) 6-foot-2, Boswell used his speed and shiftiness to get downhill and his running back-like frame (205 pounds) to create space and finish at the basket or draw contact and get to the line (4.1 free throws attempted per game).