The longest tenured player on Tennessee basketball’s roster will meet an early end to his junior season.
Forward Cade Phillips is set to undergo season-ending left shoulder surgery in the coming days, a procedure that will sideline him for the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign. He started in nine games for the Vols this season, averaging 3.8 points per game.
“We will sincerely miss having Cade on the court and he is certainly disappointed he won’t be able to play the rest of the season,” head coach Rick Barnes said in a release. “But it is essential he gets healthy. Cade did all he could to play through this injury as long as he could. We love Cade and we’ll do everything we can to support him. We know Cade will continue help us this year, even from the sideline, because that is the type of person and teammate he is.”
The Jacksonville, Alabama, product had been wearing a sizeable brace ever since suffering a dislocation of his shoulder in the Vols’ SEC opener against Arkansas last January, a setback that initially didn’t force him to miss any action.
Over this offseason, the 6-foot-9 defensive asset reinjured the same shoulder. He made an effort to play through the affliction through the early games of Tennessee’s season, but ultimately opted to surgically repair the damage. The decision comes after Phillips tallied 17 minutes and two blocks in a loss to Illinois. He posted two points against the Illini.
Phillips appeared in each of the Vols’ 38 games last year, appearing as one of the top reserve options for Barnes’ frontcourt. He broke out as a strong rim protector as a sophomore, finishing second on the team in blocks.
The 221-pound big man is among a deeper Tennessee frontcourt this season, a group that welcomed new arrivals Jaylen Carey and DeWayne Brown II into the fray. Redshirt sophomore J.P. Estrella also returned after missing a majority of his previous season due to injury.
The Vols are slated to welcome Louisville on Dec. 16, the first game Phillips won’t appear in since Tennessee’s loss to Purdue during the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
