Mitchell Phillips has grown into a leader of the Hopewell Valley Central High School boys’ basketball team in more ways than one. Not only is he a constant defensive presence on the court, but he is always there for his teammates off the court to help them through a loss.
“He’s one of, if not the best teammate we can have,” head coach Amir Siddiqu said. “He takes responsibility—sometimes when he shouldn’t—and that takes the onus off of a lot of his teammates. He’s always the first one to talk to his teammates after a tough loss.”
Phillips’ drive to play the game comes from his background and how he learned the fundamentals of basketball, which he says he’s played for as long as he can remember.
Both his parents, Dave and Laurie Phillips, played basketball when they were growing up, and his older sister Carly also played for the Bulldogs. His father and his childhood coaches stressed the importance of defense, and it left a lasting impression on Phillips.
“My dad was a hard-nosed guy when he played, and he always told me that was the most important thing,” he said said. “From [the start] it’s always been defense. It’s really what you have to focus on, and offense comes second.”
Despite being one of five players on the team last season to score more than 200 points, it’s Phillips’ defensive skills that make him a presence on the court. As of Feb. 15, Phillips, a junior, had 28 blocks and 149 rebounds for the 8-13 Bulldogs this season.
“He’s a tremendous rebounder,” Siddiqu said. “Anytime a shot goes up from the other team, it’s Mitch getting the rebound. It didn’t come to him by luck, he went after it.”
In addition to paying attention to everything happening on the court, Phillips, who has diabetes, has to pay close attention to his body as well. His parents gave him and his coaches watches that monitor his vital signs throughout the game to help ensure he stays healthy. Despite the need to pay close attention to his body, Phillips said it doesn’t impact his ability to play the game as hard as he possibly can.
“I’ve had to deal with it for five or six years now, so it’s kind of second nature,” he said. “At first I went, ‘This is tricky,’ but as time went on you get used to it.”
Phillips hopes to one day become an endocrinologist and help other athletes with type 1 diabetes.
“I’ve been through it, so I think it would help kids who have it, knowing that I can relate with what they have to go through,” he said.
Phillips blocked a career high five shots against Robbinsville this season, a 63-55 victory where he blended his defensive abilities with his self-imposed leadership role. Toward the end of the game, Robbinsville mounted a comeback, and Phillips said everyone knew they had to step it up to get the win.
“It easily could have gone the other way, but we made sure it didn’t,” he said. “We’re not losing this game. It’s right there—we just have to grab it.”
Watching Phillips make blocks and get the rebounds has become its own event within games, with parents in the stands and his teammates on the bench cheering and jumping out of their seats in excitement when he makes a play.
“[Phillips] takes off and it’s like oh my God!” Siddiqu said. “It’s 240 pounds, 6-feet-5-inches running down the court and it’s fluid. He gets us out of trouble. I try not to hear the crowd during the game as the coach, but it’s hard not to when he makes these blocks.”
Phillips was born in Ohio, and he and his family moved to New Hampshire before finally settling down in Hopewell Valley. As he moved around for his dad’s pharmaceutical job, playing basketball became both his passion and a way to meet new people.
“Four or five days after I got here I went to the basketball camp Bulldog Basics, and that was a fun transition because I was excited to see what was here,” he said. “Most of the people I met there are actually my best friends now, so it was good, it helped a lot.”
Phillips has since spent his time in New Jersey playing the game he loves with his close friends, including his current Bulldog teammates.
When the Bulldogs lost four games in a row at the start of the season, Phillips didn’t let the disappointment of the losses affect the team. It’s this ability to put the entire season into perspective that impresses his coaches.
“It’s a mature approach to keep things in perspective and realize that basketball is the type of sport where you don’t have a lot of time to feel sorry for yourself, and you don’t have a lot of time to pat yourself on the back,” Siddiqu said.
This approach to the game is reflected in his playing style, which his coach said has matured rather than evolved since joining the team three years ago as a freshman. Siddiqu said the core skills Phillips learned from his father as a child are still with him today, and they have grown alongside him.
“He’s a constant worker,” Siddiqu said. “He worked out with the trainer during the offseason, put on 20 pounds of muscle.”
Phillips is only a junior and isn’t thinking about college, but that hasn’t stopped some schools from expressing interest in recruiting him for their team.
For now, however, Phillips just wants to be the best player possible.
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