Rick Barnes says Julian Phillips should have dunked near end of Vanderbilt game

No. 6 Tennessee fell on the road against in-state rival Vanderbilt last night in brutal fashion, partially thanks to a bizarre decision from freshman wing Julian Phillips. The Volunteers had the ball and a two-point lead with less than 30 seconds to go, forcing Vanderbilt to foul. Except Tennessee wasn’t yet in the single bonus yet, so the Commodores had to foul several times before Tennessee was finally sent to the line. On one of the inbounds plays, Phillips got loose and caught the ball with a wide open lane to dunk it and give UT a four point lead with less than 10 seconds to play, which essentially would have ended the game.

Instead, Phillips declined his slam dunk opportunity to absorb another foul — Vandy’s sixth. So Tennessee took the ball out one more time, passed it in to Santiago Vescovi, who was fouled and sent to the line for the one-and-one. He missed, giving the ‘Dores one final chance to tie or win the game. Credit Jerry Stackhouse, because he drew up a flawless play to setup a wide open three for Tyrin Lawrence in the corner near the Vandy bench. As his teammates swarmed around him with encouragement, he knocked it down as the horn sounded. Vanderbilt wins.

Afterwards, the Phillips decision was a hot topic. Probably because, you know, it ultimately decided the game. Had he made that, a Vanderbilt victory becomes nearly impossible. Always take the points, so the saying goes. Vols head coach Rick Barnes was clearly frustrated with his freshman’s mistake in the postgame presser.

“Come on, he’s got to do that,” snapped Barnes. “I told him…you don’t turn down a 100% shot. I mean, you’ve got to do that. He’ll learn from it. But he’s got to do that. With 18 seconds, they’ve got five fouls they’ve got to give, they’re going to have to foul. So we’ve got to go. When you get a wide-open dunk, you’ve got to give it.”

Phillips wasn’t the only UT player to screw up in the final moments. Vescovi, a near-80% foul shooter, committed the cardinal sin of free throw shooting by botching the front end of the one-and-one. Then, Barnes called the final play “a defensive breakdown.” Just a lot of little mistakes that all became massive as Tennessee suffered its worst loss since the neutral-site Colorado head-scratcher all the way back in November.