Rick Barnes explains what's next for Tennessee after losing Cade Phillips for the season

Rick Barnes offered up an interesting solution to Tennessee Basketball losing junior power forward Cade Phillips. Freshman guard Amari Evans, all 6-foot-5, 220 pounds of him, could get some minutes in the post to help the Vols fill the void.

“We’ve already started trying to teach Amari Evans,” Barnes said this week on The Mike Keith Show, “so if we ever need to go small, because of his strength, his physicality, we think he can give us some of that.”

It was announced on Monday that Phillips would be undergoing season-ending surgery on his left shoulder, addressing a lingering injury that initially occurred last January.  

Up Next: No. 20 Tennessee vs. No. 11 Louisville, Tuesday

Phillips strengthened the shoulder during the offseason, but aggravated the injury before the season. The 6-foot-9 junior averaged 3.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game in 10 games season, starting making nine starts while trying to manage the injury.

No. 20 Tennessee (7-3) is off until No. 11 Louisville (8-1) comes to Food City Center on Tuesday (7 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN).

“It’s not going to get any better (without surgery),” Barnes said. “And we respect and admire Cade for working as hard as he could to try to fight through it. And with JP (Estrella) being out, he did everything he could to try to hold the line (last season). 

“Hopefully JP is back now and will stay healthy, because without he and JP, we really got lean on the front line. But it’s tough.”

Estrella was lost to season-ending foot surgery early last season, leaving Phillips and starting center Felix Okpara to carry the load tin the post. Phillips suffered the shoulder injury in the SEC opener last season against Arkansas, but still played in all 38 games. 

“In the long run, it’s the right thing to do because we’ve watched how hard and painful it’s been for him in practice some days when he would get hit,” Barnes said. “He gave us everything he could. And (it got) to a point where psychologically, probably as much as physically, because Cade is a tough kid. I mean, he’s tough, he’s competitive.

“We watched him, he just couldn’t be who he wanted to be, it’s the right thing to do.”

Vols added post depth during the offseason

Tennessee addressed the post during the offseason by adding Vanderbilt power forward Jaylen Carey out of the NCAA Transfer Portal and four-star freshman forward DeWayne Brown in the 2025 recruiting class. 

 “It takes us down to four post players, but DeWayne Brown, obviously these minutes he’s getting have been very valuable.

Carey is averaging 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game, playing his best basketball over the last two weeks. Brown has impressed in his first season with the Vols, averaging 5.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in 13.2 minutes per game off the bench.

Evans, another four-star prospect in the 2025 class, played 10 minutes against Illinois on Saturday night in Nashville. 

Barnes also mentioned 6-foot-10 freshman wing Nate Ament as another possibility for minutes in the post without Phillips. 

“Offensively,” Barnes said, “Nate could go anywhere on the court. So we’ll play around with it, which is part of making coaching fun.”