Hunter Huss rises to No. 1 in 5A with Smith’s return, grit after 2024 playoff run

A year ago, Hunter Huss limped into the state playoffs after a challenging schedule left it with eight losses, including three to crosstown rival Ashbrook.

But second-year head coach Troy Phillips knew his team, whose top five scorers were all underclassmen, still had a chance for greatness.

And the youthful Huskies fulfilled his hopes with a playoff run that advanced them all the way to a 71-57 Western N.C. 3A championship loss to eventual state champion Greensboro Smith that was clearly highlighted by an emotional 51-48 win at Ashbrook.

This season, after major N.C. High School Athletic Association realignment and an eventful offseason, Hunter Huss is ranked No. 1 in Class 5A in a preseason poll sponsored by The Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer of Raleigh.

“My message to the team is simple: You worked hard to get to where you were last year when no one believed we would get there,” said Troy Phillips, whose team went 20-9 overall last year. “Now, we have to work even harder because we’re still playing a tough schedule and there’s no nights off. You’re going to get everybody’s best shot every night.”

Getting to this point has been anything but simple as leading scorer Jaleel Smith originally announced he was leaving Huss for Winston-Salem Christian in June, then chose to return in early September. Three weeks after Smith’s return, last year’s third-leading scorer (Antonio Worthy) decided he would be leaving Huss for Ashbrook.

“It’s a new day,” Troy Phillips said. “Anytime you have the basketball landscape like you have it with the colleges and universities now, it’s going to trickle down to the high schools.

“My motto is, ‘You can’t coach who you don’t have.’ Antonio Worthy was a phenomenal basketball player for Hunter Huss, and he’s going to be a phenomenal basketball player for Ashbrook. He’s an awesome kid who was a joy to coach. He just felt like Ashbrook would be better for him. I hate that, but sometimes you have to move on.”

Smith’s decision to return to Huss came because he felt like he had some unfinished business there. That’s even as he and his parents originally thought playing at Winston-Salem Christian (and alongside longtime friend Bradley Floyd of Kings Mountain) was what he wanted to do.

“But my heart wasn’t there,” Smith said. “I wanted to come back with my brothers at Huss and get this state championship.”

Smith returns after one of the best freshman seasons in Gaston County’s long, storied high school basketball history.

A 6-foot-1, 175-pound sophomore, Smith averaged 22.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 4.1 steals and his 644 overall points are second in school history for a single season.

Huss’ second-leading scorer, Zaiyir Phillips, knows as much Huskies’ history as anyone on the team.

Not only is he the son of head coach Troy Phillips (a 1996 Huss graduate and three-year standout player), but he’s also the younger brother of 2021 graduate Adriel Phillips, who played on the Huskies’ last Western N.C. runner-up team in 2020 when Huss’ head coach was current Ashbrook head coach Walt Wallace.

“I’ve been around Huss basketball since I was 5,” said Zaiyir Phillips, a 5-11, 155-pound junior who averaged 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 3.1 steals last season. “I was the water boy for the team when my brother played and Coach Wallace was the coach.

“I went to practices and saw the games. So it was great to finally be in the shoes of the guys that I grew up watching. We came up a little short last year. But I feel like we’re going to come back and work harder to do better.”

Locally, the Ashbrook-Huss rivalry has deep roots that have included future NBA standouts such as James Worthy and Darrell Armstrong at Ashbrook and Thomas “Bubba” Wilson and Eric “Sleepy” Floyd at Huss.

Last year’s playoff win at Ashbrook, which came after losing both regular season games and the Big South Conference tournament title contest, reminded many of the 1977 N.C. 4A state title game win by Huss.

That’s when a Huskies team with Floyd as its standout beat an Ashbrook team led by future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer James Worthy after the Green Wave had won the first four matchups that season.

With Antonio Worthy leaving Huss after averaging 11.1 points last season as a junior, some might expect an increased intensity to the Ashbrook-Huss rivalry.

Zaiyir Phillips understands that thinking, but says the rivalry is bigger than any player.

“I wish Antonio the best,” He said. “But we’re not going to put too much pressure on ourselves to try to prove a point. I know he’ll do well. But it’s still the same rivalry — and it’s still going to be big for both teams.”