Cade Phillips is set to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery. Here is what it means for the Tennessee basketball roster for the rest of the season.

The latest edition of the Associated Press Top 25 men’s basketball poll saw the Tennessee Volunteers fall several spots after a pair of losses in the last week. Tennessee fell seven spots to No. 20 in the Week 6 edition of the rankings.

The stronger team down the stretch was not Tennessee, which shot 36.9% and had only one player – former Belmont guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (15 points) score in double figures, and it took Gillespie 20 shot attempts (he made six) to do it. UT’s star freshman forward Nate Ament shot 4-of-14 and scored only nine points.

The Illini are 22nd in the country in 2-point percentage (60.7%), but Tennessee has an elite defense that can slow them down. The Vols don't allow many shots at the rim and rank 19th in the country in opponent 2PT% (44.1%).

Illinois earned a major bounce-back win in Nashville, defeating the Volunteers with defense, grit and late-game toughness

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Nate Ament scored 23 points to lead No. 18 Tennessee to a 95-56 victory over Northern Kentucky on Saturday. Ja'Kobi Gillespie added 20 points and J.P. Estrella came off the bench to finish with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the ...

Nate Ament is averaging 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds for Tennessee basketball, but has struggled in the past three games against better teams.

Below is the entire USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll top 25 rankings released on Monday. Tennessee is down seven spots to No. 20.

Tennessee junior forward Cade Phillips will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 basketball season due to a recurring shoulder injury, Vols' head coach Rick Barnes announced Monday. Phillips, who started nine of Tennessee's first 10 games, will have season-ending surgery to repair his shoulder.

Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington is committed to renewing the basketball series against Memphis. Byington stated that teams within Tennessee should compete against each other annually. The Commodores will travel to Memphis for the first game of the renewed series.