Terrific Tennessee Tuesday: Cade Phillips, Center

The Vols are going to need more of what they saw from the sophomore big against South Carolina.

Mar 11, 2025

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Every Tuesday, we here at Tennessee SRM will highlight one Tennessee Volunteers athlete that had the best week throughout football, basketball, and baseball season. It’s one of the various daily staples here at SRM that we hope you enjoy and check back for each Tuesday through the year.

Let’s dive into which athlete we elected to spotlight for today’s Terrific Tennessee Tuesday column.

CADE PHILLIPS, CENTER

Before the regular season finale versus South Carolina, sophomore big Cade Phillips had not played more than twenty minutes in a basketball game for head men’s coach Rick Barnes since Feb. 8 in Norman against Oklahoma. Phillips had also not attempted eight field goals in a game since the Vols appearance in the Jimmy V Classic against Syracuse on December 3. Against the Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon, the versatile Phillips made six of eight shots from the field, registered three blocks, and nabbed four boards across 23 minutes of action.

It was, undoubtedly, one of the best games of the season for the Alabama native. It came at a critical time for Phillips and Tennessee, too, as fellow big Felix Okpara looked exhausted in the Vols’ road loss in Oxford against Ole Miss on Wednesday night. Before Saturday afternoon, Phillips played six minutes combined in Tennessee’s previous two games. His six-made buckets were double what he had made over the last month of action combined. Only Jahmai Mashack had a higher plus-minus in the contest than Phillips.

Phillips played with force inside in his final home game at Thompson Boling Arena at Food City Center on Saturday afternoon. The talented former three-star recruit has doubled his minutes for Barnes in his second season on Rocky Top, and he’s shown flashes of being the kind of versatile big man who could be a big factor for Barnes’ teams next year and the year after. Without JP Estrella to help ease Okpara’s burden inside, Phillips has been asked to do a lot of the dirty work down low necessary for Tennessee to finish No. 1 in defensive efficiency this season, per KenPom.

The Vols’ rotation is already thin without Estrella (injury) and Cam Carr (transfer) for the rest of the season. Still, Tennessee’s eight-man rotation with Phillips, Jordan Gainey, and Darlinstone Dubar off the bench has been one of the best in college basketball this season. However, things get more dicey for Barnes and the Vols if Phillips can only give the team six-ish minutes a game come NCAA Tournament time next week.

I suspect that’s why his emphatic finish to the season might prove to be very important for Tennessee as they begin the SEC Tournament on Friday. Tennessee is thin, but they are especially thin inside. When Phillips is as locked in and effective as he was against the Gamecocks on Saturday, it goes a long way for Okpara, Barnes, and Tennessee.

We’ll find out if Phillips can build off that stellar showing beginning Friday in the SEC Tournament.

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Chase Thomas is the Sports Renaissance Man, Atlanta Sports Guy & VFL. On today's program, Chase is joined by Rocky Top Insider's Ryan Schumpert and Saturday Down South's Ethan Stone to talk about Tennessee beating South Carolina in their final regular season game (5:00), Tennessee's SEC Tournament strategy (14:00), Zakai Zeigler's best moments as a Vol (23:20), Tennessee football spring practice early takeaways (33:30), Chris Brazzell is like Jordan Gainey (45:00), and Vols baseball stays undefeated (61:00).

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