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Published Mar 19, 2021
By the Numbers: B.J. Boston
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Justin Rowland  •  CatsIllustrated
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@RowlandRIVALS

Kentucky freshman B.J. Boston has yet to announce his plans for beyond this college basketball season.

So while we don't know for certain whether Boston will leave for the NBA or perhaps surprise and return for another year (though there's been plenty of discussion about that at the House of Blue), we can reflect on his 2020-21 season.

It was not the season that Boston probably envisioned or hoped for, and many of these numbers should make that clear.

78.5% ... Boston's free throw percentage. He had the UK's third most free throw attempts behind Olivier Sarr and Isaiah Jackson.

72% ... Boston's national percentile rank in transition offense, producing 1.147 points per possession. He was not elite or great at any part of his game, but transition and the open floor game were strengths for him.

37.3% ... Three-point percentage for Boston in SEC play. That may be the highlight of his season, and the best selling point that he could offer to any NBA team willing to take a flier on him. During Southeastern Conference play he was a threat to knock down shots from outside.

35.5% ... Boston's field goal percentage for the season. That was second worst on the team behind only Devin Askew.

30.4 ... Boston's minutes per game for the entire season. That was just behind Davion Mintz, good enough for second-best on UK's team in spite of his inefficiency and inconsistency.

11.5 ... Boston's scoring average for the season. That tied with Mintz for most on the team, but Mintz scored one more point on the year.

6 ... The number of games in which Boston had three or more steals. He led Kentucky with 33 steals on the season, eight more than the next highest total (Mintz, 25).

3 ... Boston scored three more points per game at Rupp than in road games. 12.8 points at home, 9.8 points on the road. He also shot 37.9% from the field at home versus 32% on the road. The three-point splits were even more pronounced.

2 ... The number of times Boston scored 20 points or more in a game all season. Given his ranking and reputation coming out of high school that's a pretty surprising number, considering how other elite prospects with opportunity have posted big scoring games in the past under Calipari.

0.595 ... Points per possession produced by Boston on scoring opportunities against zone defenses. Boston also struggled against man, but zone was a particular problem for him.

0 ... In the final game of Kentucky's season Boston scored zero points. He was 0-4 from the field. Just one game prior, against South Carolina to end the regular season, he scored a season-high 21 points. But in a one-point loss that ended UK's last bid for an improbable automatic bid, Boston posted his only scoreless game of the season.

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