SEC women’s basketball starter dismissed by team days before season starts

Ruby Whitehorn is no longer a member of the women’s basketball team at Tennessee.

In a statement released Sunday afternoon — just two days before the Lady Vols’ season-opener in Greensboro, North Carolina against N.C. State — second-year Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell confirmed that Whitehorn had been dismissed from the team, following the second arrest in less than three months for the senior guard.

Whitehorn, a former five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American, has already been removed from Tennessee’s online roster.

“It is my responsibility to protect the high standards of this historic program,” Caldwell said in statement. “In light of recent events, Ruby has been unable to reflect those standards, and I have made the difficult decision to dismiss her from our team. I love Ruby and will always be rooting for her, but my priority is to uphold the respected reputation of the Lady Vols.”

Whitehorn was arrested last week and charged with simple possession of marijuana. The incident occurred at 4:31 a.m. Thursday morning, hours after Whitehorn scored 18 points in an exhibition victory for Tennessee over Division II Columbus State. According to a police report, she was in possession of 5.59 grams of marijuana.

That was Whitehorn’s second run-in with the law since August. She was arrested on Aug. 8 and charged with domestic assault and aggravated burglary. Whitehorn was briefly suspended indefinitely by Caldwell, but was reinstated to the team in September after she plead guilty to two misdemeanors — aggravated trespassing and aggravated burglary — in exchange for judicial diversion.

After Whitehorn was reinstated, Caldwell told reporters: “It’s not an ideal situation, it’s not a situation that reflects our program the way we want it to. There’s a strong legacy here, and it did not withhold the name of the brand… It’s not something that helped us at all in recruiting. It’s something that we have addressed. We addressed it seriously, and we’re hoping that we can now move on and put our next foot forward.”

If another program chooses to pick Whitehorn up for next season, she should have one season of collegiate eligibility remaining. A 6-foot guard from Detroit, Michigan, Whitehorn began her career at Clemson where she was voted to the 2023 All-ACC Freshman Team and started in 62 of the 66 games she played in.

Last season for Tennessee — her first in Knoxville — Whitehorn posted career-bests in 3-point and free throw shooting percentages, and a career-low in turnovers per game. She averaged 11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 46.3 percent from the floor. Whitehorn was fourth on the team in minutes played and scoring, and third in rebounds. She was one of three starters returning from a Lady Vols’ team that made the Sweet 16 last season in Caldwell’s first at the helm.

Expectations are high for Tennessee this season. The Lady Vols are ranked eighth in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll and fourth in the SEC preseason poll.

Tennessee now enters the season with 13 players on its roster. Talaysia Cooper and Zee Spearman are the lone returning starters now, but they’ll be boosted by transfers like Janiah Barker and Nya Robertson, and a stellar freshmen class headlined by Mia Pauldo.