Prospect Matchup Game Reviews: Tennessee vs South Carolina

Breaking down the single game performances from NBA Draft prospects from Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday afternoon in Columbia, South Carolina we got a matchup between two intriguing SEC freshmen.

The top 10 Tennessee Volunteers and freshman forward Julian Phillips visited the unranked South Carolina Gamecocks and recently turned 18-year-old Gregory “GG” Jackson.

This was a lopsided matchup on paper coming into the game and it played out even more so on the court as Tennessee walked away with a 43-point road victory.

While we did not get a competitive game on the scoreboard, we did see these two youngsters go head to head as they matched up with each other on multiple possessions throughout the game.

Not only did Phillips’ Volunteers come away with the victory but he also came away with the better overall game of the two. While this doesn't Phillips is a better overall prospect he did have a better performance in this single matchup.

Julian Phillips (Forward - Tennessee)

While the box score numbers were modest for Phillips, the overall impact he had on the game was much larger.

Starting on the defensive end of the court, the 6-foot-8 forward was a major reason for the frustrating game that his fellow freshman would end up having. He did a great job making it hard for Jackson to catch the ball and forced him into multiple tough, contested shot attempts.

Phillips also impressed with his effort in a couple different areas on this end of the court.

First, anytime a shot went up you were sure to find the Link Prep alum finding a body to box out before getting involved in the rebound. Another example of the box score numbers, one credited board, not always telling the whole story.

Phillips also played at the top of the Volunteers' pressure putting on display his defensive intensity, length and athleticism. He was also able to showcase some defensive disruption on a few other possessions with deflections, near steals and contests at the rim.

Offensively, Phillips did not showcase any self creation but was tremendous to watch move off the ball running off countless screening situations. The freshman showed a nice ability to read the defense off of these screens with backdoors and curls.

While it would have been great to see Phillips get some more usage than four field goal attempts and one assist, you do have to appreciate his willingness to play within the flow of the offense and showcase his high feel for the game.

GG Jackson (Forward - South Carolina)

While the box score numbers for Phillips were not indicative of his game, Jackson’s stat line was very much in sync with the game he had.

Tennessee is not only the far better team but also one of the best defensive teams in the country which meant the 6-foot-10 forward was in store for a tough night from the start.

Jackson got very few clean looks and instead had to force up multiple midrange contest jump shots.

When he was able to get a clean look from the 3-point line, where he is shooting 32% on 5.2 attempts per game, he was not able to convert.

Defensively, Jackson left much to be desired in terms of his motor and activity. While he ended up with the same number of rebounds as Phillips (one), the difference in boxing out and aggressiveness when a shot went up was very noticeable.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this game was Jackson’s overall demeanor and attitude. Yes, we are talking about a freshman who just recently turned 18-years-old but there were just far too many “palms up” and other nonverbal reactions to his teammates. There were also multiple examples of Jackson not sprinting back in defensive transition.

Jackson did not start the second half, perhaps as a result of this as he was not in foul trouble, and you have to hope this is something that will be addressed for the youngster and improve moving forward.

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