Bennie’s back, basketball’s better

When men’s basketball head coach Andy Enfield was asked before the season about senior forward Bennie Boatwright’s NBA prospects, he was adamant in his response: “We don’t even discuss the NBA.”

Coming off a knee injury that kept Boatwright off the court for eight months, the captain needed to get his rhythm and timing back, according to Enfield. Talking about the NBA at that juncture, he said, was pointless.

It might be time to start that conversation. Eighteen games into the season, Boatwright leads the Trojans in scoring at 17.3 points per game, shooting a career-high 39 percent from the 3-point range. After Boatwright dropped 21 points and five 3s in an emphatic 80-67 win over UCLA on Saturday at the Galen Center, the message was clear: “Bennie Buckets” is back.

“I feel totally more comfortable now,” Boatwright said. “It took me a couple of games to get comfortable out there. I’m feeling a lot better.”

When asked about what the blowout rivalry win means for the team moving forward, Enfield did not hesitate to put the spotlight on Boatwright.

“Our team has improved, and [a] big part of that is Bennie Boatwright,” Enfield said.

The coach touted Boatwright’s rhythm, his feel, his rebounding and his defense, all of which flowed into his offensive game. It is all back, a far cry from when Boatwright struggled early in the season against top-25 opponents in Nevada, TCU and Oklahoma.

“Bennie hadn’t played in eight months and you’ve seen, since mid-December, he’s a totally different player,” Enfield said.

That was apparent on Saturday. Boatwright stepped into jumpers with confidence, was assertive offensively and active on the glass with seven rebounds. He made shots that he missed earlier in the year. He made moves that he didn’t attempt in November.

“I don’t think people understand how tough it is to come back from an injury,” Boatwright said. “When you don’t play basketball for a long time, it’s tough to get a rhythm. You’re not to go out there and score 20, 30 [points]. You’ve got to work your way up. It’s a tough process.”

Junior guard Jonah Mathews, a fellow captain who played against Boatwright in high school, sees the difference in Boatwright’s game. The two talk about basketball daily, and he has seen Boatwright develop this season.

“You can tell the maturity of the way he thinks about basketball and the way he sees things on the court is next-level,” Mathews said. “He’s changed tremendously. He’s changed his game, mentally, physically, so it’s great to see.”

Boatwright is averaging 21.3 points over his last seven games on 52 percent shooting, and his five 3s on Saturday were the most he has made in a game this season. Slowly, but surely, he is developing into the stretch-four prototype that NBA scouts drool over.

Mathews is not surprised. Having been familiar with Boatwright’s game since high school, Mathews always knew he was talented.

“But when you have a knee injury like that, it can mess with you mentally,” Mathews said. “He got through it … Now, he’s back to ‘Bennie Buckets.’”