Julian Phillips lifts Vols past USC, into Battle 4 Atlantis championship game

Welcome to the Julian Phillips coming out party. No. 22 Tennessee’s five-star freshman wing scored a career-high 25 points and added eight rebounds to lead the Vols to a 73-66 overtime win over USC in the semifinal round of the Battle 4 Atlantis Thursday afternoon.

The Vols will now advance to face No. 3 Kansas (6-0) in the tournament championship game Friday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN. The Jayhawks advanced with a one-point win over Wisconsin in the first semifinal game.

Phillips hit two free throws for Tennessee with 2:31 left in overtime and Santiago Vescovi hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:45 to go. USC turned it over out of a timeout with 1:18 left to give the ball back to the Vols. The Trojans turned it over again with 29 seconds on the clock, down three.

Tennessee (4-1), which advanced past Butler Wednesday night thanks in part to 11 points and six rebounds from Phillips, got 12 points and six rebounds from senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua. Tyreke Key scored 10 and Jahmai Mashack scored seven off the bench.

Vescovi had seven points and Zakai Zeigler scored six, as the two combined to go 4-for-19 from the floor, including an 1-for-11 mark from the 3-point line.

USC (4-2) got 21 points from Boogie Ellis and 11 more from Tre White.

Nkamhoua tied the game at 62-all with 1:01 left in regulation, assisted by Phillips. Phillips then grabbed a defensive rebound after USC missed a three with 34 seconds left.

Tennessee had possession out of a timeout with 10 seconds left, but Vescovi missed a deep three. The shot hit only the backboard and resulted in a shot-clock violation, ultimately moving the game to overtime.

USC took a 45-41 lead on a 9-0 run early in the second half, only to see Tennessee answer with eight straight points to go back up by four. Phillips had a three-point play at the rim with 14:41 left, Jonas Aidoo scored in the paint less than a minute later, then Tyreke Key hit a deep three with 11:28 to go.

The USC scoring drought was nearly six minutes when Nkamhoua hit two free throws with 10:48 on the clock, extending the Tennessee run to 10-0 over 3:53.

The Trojans responded with five straight points, getting back within one, then took the lead on a Reese Dixon-Waters dunk at the 8:01 mark. Phillips dunked a Uros Plavsic miss on the other end as the teams traded leads.

Julian Phillips scored 13 points to lead Vols in first half

Phillips led Tennessee with 13 points in the first half, going 4-for-7 from the field and 4-for-4 at the free-throw line. Nkmahoua scored eight and Jahmai Mashack had seven off the bench.

The Vols led for just under 17 minutes in the first half despite only getting five combined points from Tyreke Key (3), Santiago Vescovi (2) and Zakai Zeigler (0) before the break. 

USC was led by 15 points from Ellis in the first half. Tennessee’s lead was eight after a Mashack transition dunk and foul, but the Trojans closed on a quick 5-0 run, capped by a deep three from Ellis at the horn. 

Josiah-Jordan James (knee) misses second straight game

Josiah-Jordan James warmed up before Thursday’s game against USC, but the senior wing did not play.

James, who missed the 71-45 win over Butler Wednesday night due to knee soreness, was described as both “questionable” for the USC game and “day-to-day” by head coach Rick Barnes Wednesday night.

“We felt coming in (that he would be out),” Barnes said Wednesday during his postgame press conference. “We knew that he wasn’t going to be available today. We’ll wait and see. He’ll be questionable tomorrow. We’ll decide. Day to day.”

Up Next: Game 3 at Battle 4 Atlantis

No. 3 Kansas escaped a Wisconsin upset bid in the first semifinal game on Thursday when Bobby Pettiford grabbed an offensive rebound and threw it off the glass with 0.2 seconds left, lifting the Jayhawks to a 69-68 win over the Badgers.

Jalen Wilson finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds for Kansas (6-0). The Jayhawks 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists from Kevin McCullar Jr. 

Tyler Wahl led Wisconsin (4-1) with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Connor Essegian scored 17 points off the bench and Max Klesmit scored 13 points.