Veteran Tennessee guard Kaiya Wynn is leaving the program ahead of the postseason, she announced this week. The fifth-year player cited Senior Night in Knoxville as her “breaking point.”

The Lady Vols honored their seniors on Sunday while hosting No. 5 Vanderbilt. Wynn, who has played 103 games for Tennessee in her career but just nine this season, sat on the bench the whole game but was asked to check in with 15 seconds remaining. By that point, Tennessee was about to pick up its sixth consecutive loss.

“For the past five years I have given my all for Tennessee and have not regretted doing so once. Obviously, my last two seasons on the team have been less than ideal for many reasons, but the one night I was most looking forward to was senior night,” Wynn wrote on social media. 

“As someone who has never started a career game, I was hoping to start in my last appearance in Thompson-Boling. That obviously did not happen, and to be asked to check into the game with 15 seconds left while losing was not how I wanted to spend my final moments in my arena after five years. Although that was not the sole reason, it was the breaking point for me.”

Wynn, a Tennessee native, thanked Lady Vol Nation for the past five years and wished everyone “nothing but the best.”

She declined to play in the last 15 seconds against Vanderbilt, which makes her three minutes against Missouri on Feb. 12 her last appearance on the court. Wynn did not get a single start in her five years with Tennessee and was only averaging 8.4 minutes per game this season. She missed the whole 2024-25 campaign due to injury.

Coach Kim Caldwell told reporters on Wednesday that Wynn’s decision “kind of caught me off guard.” Regardless, she said her team has to focus on getting ready for the postseason.

“We’ll miss her,” Caldwell said. “She was loved in this program, and we respect her decision, but we kind of have to turn the page and kind of focus on the SEC tournament.”

Wynn’s departure is just the latest hit for a Tennessee program that has been struggling this season. The Lady Vols have lost nine of their last 11 games, including a 43-point loss at South Carolina which was the largest margin of defeat in program history.

Tennessee is entering the SEC Tournament as a No. 5 seed and will play its first game on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET.