Vols five-star freshman Phillips seeking to stay aggressive

Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee freshman forward Julian Phillips (2) racked up 18 points and 11 rebounds during Tuesday night’s 70-59 win at Mississippi State.
Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee freshman forward Julian Phillips (2) racked up 18 points and 11 rebounds during Tuesday night’s 70-59 win at Mississippi State.

Tennessee five-star freshman forward Julian Phillips has produced wide-ranging performances this season.

Including this past week.

Phillips was nearly invisible in last Saturday's 63-56 loss to Kentucky inside Thompson-Boling Arena, compiling just two points and three rebounds in 18 minutes, but Tuesday night at Mississippi State was a very different story. The 6-foot-8, 198-pounder from Blythewood, South Carolina, racked up 18 points and 11 rebounds in the 70-59 victory, notching his second double-double with the Volunteers and his first against a Power Five foe.

"I just tried to be more aggressive," Phillips told reporters after the win. "Obviously we were missing Santi(ago Vescovi) and Tyreke (Key), so we all had to step up. I just had to focus on everything I could and do it to the highest level."

Phillips will look to build off his performance in Starkville when the No. 9 Vols (15-3, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) visit LSU (12-6, 1-5) Saturday afternoon at 4 on ESPN. The Tigers have dropped five straight games in Matt McMahon's first season, including the last four by double digits.

In November 2021, Phillips signed with LSU, but he was released from his letter of intent last March after former Tigers coach Will Wade was fired, which followed the school receiving an NCAA notice of allegations that detailed five Level I violations.

Phillips has started all 18 games this season and tallied 25 points in 38 minutes during Tennessee's 73-66 overtime win over Southern California in a Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal in late November. Yet when the Vols faced Maryland and Arizona in consecutive games in mid-December, he shot a combined 1-of-15.

Vols assistant coach Gregg Polinsky was asked Thursday why Phillips was so much more aggressive at Mississippi State compared to three days earlier.

"Part of that is us, and part of that is Julian," Polinsky said. "We've asked him to help us separate, and the one thing he's done that we're really proud of is the way he goes to the offensive glass. We talked about that earlier in the year and how he needed to run to the glass from the wing position.

"He had the great move coming from left to right the other night in the second half. That was a big-time play that works on every level, but what was most impressive to me was Julian continuing to go to the backboard."

Phillips is averaging 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He is shooting 60.5% in SEC matchups, and his team-high 80 free throws have yielded an 81.3% success rate.

"I've gotten this far," he said, "but I've got to keep working."


Increased fouling

Tennessee has averaged 21 fouls in its past two contests after averaging 15.8 in the previous five.

"The rules of officiating are based on how that game is being called on that day or night," Polinsky said, "and we've got to do a better job adjusting early on and how we see the level of physicality and what is going to be allowed. Can we be a little more physical, or can we not?

"Us becoming a little smarter in that area is something we're still working on."

Uros Plavsic fouled out in the final seconds against Kentucky, while Olivier Nkamhoua finished with four fouls in Starkville.

"The fouling is a little bit unfortunate," Nkamhoua said. "With how hard we play defense, the refs are seeing what they're seeing. Sometimes you're in the right place and sometimes you're late, but we honestly don't worry about it. If the refs want to come in and try to control the game, that's on them.

"We're going to play our game, and we're going to play hard. It's not like we want to foul. We want to play clean defense."


Early success

In four of Tennessee's first six SEC games, opponents have been scoreless at the first media timeout.

The average lead for the Vols at the first media timeout of a league game is 9-3.


Odds and ends

Tennessee leads the series with LSU 66-50 but trails 28-26 in Baton Rouge. ... The Vols last won at LSU in 2015, losing their four trips since. ... McMahon was a Tennessee graduate assistant under Buzz Peterson in 2001-02. ... The Vols have been No. 2 in the NET rankings since Jan. 3. ... Tennessee continues to lead the nation both in field-goal defense (33.6%) and in 3-point defense (21.7%). ... Polinsky on Tuesday night's win: "I think it was one of our proudest moments. We struggled, but we didn't give in."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.

Upcoming Events