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Report: Suspended Kentucky player attended party with ‘armed bodyguard’

Mississippi State v Kentucky

LEXINGTON, KY - JANUARY 23: Sacha Killeya-Jones #1, Hamidou Diallo #3, Jarred Vanderbilt #2 and Tai Wynyard #14 of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrate after a basket against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the second half at Rupp Arena on January 23, 2018 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

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The saga of Kentucky’s Tai Wynyard has taken about a dozen turns over the course of the last few days, none of which brought more clarity to a muddled situation involving injuries, suspensions and a report of a man armed with a gun protecting the player.

On Monday, it was announced that a back problem that has plagued Wynyard throughout his Kentucky tenure would keep the native New Zealander out of the lineup for the rest of the season.

“He’s tried to come back twice — it hasn’t worked — so I think at this point he’ll be sitting out the rest of the year,” Calipari said of the injury on Monday, according to SEC Country. “I don’t think there’d be any chance [he’ll return] at this point. He’ll be out.”

On Tuesday, news broke that Wynyard was suspended from all team activities, but no direct reason for the suspension was given. The injury is reportedly not just a cover for a suspension that Kentucky did not want made public. Later on Tuesday, the news got weirder, as the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Wynyard had been attending parties on campus with a person carrying a gun.

According to the paper, sometime in mid-January an alert went out on a group-messaging app used by sororities and fraternities to beware of an individual attending parties with Wynyard. Wynyard was on the bench for Kentucky’s win at Vanderbilt on January 13th, but he has not been on the bench or traveled with the team since then. It may simply be a coincidence, as another injured player -- Jemarl Baker -- has remained in Lexington on road trips as well.