After her second arrest in the last three months, Tennessee senior guard Ruby Whitehorn has been dismissed from the program, head coach Kim Caldwell announced on Sunday.
Early on Thursday, Whitehorn was reportedly stopped by campus police and charged with misdemeanor simple possession (marijuana)/casual exchange.
“It is my responsibility to protect the high standards of this historic program,” Caldwell said in a 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.”
On Aug. 8, the Detroit native was arrested and charged with felony domestic assault and aggravated burglary. She had kicked in the front and bedroom doors of a woman’s residence, but claimed she was attempting to recover her phone and passport from the woman, who had locked the doors to the residence.
Whitehorn was suspended from the program at that time. On Sept. 5, she pleaded down to misdemeanors of aggravated trespassing and aggravated burglary in exchange for judicial diversion and was subsequently reinstated to the team.
“We gave her a penalty that was pretty severe,” Caldwell said at the time. “And if she batted an eye to that, or didn’t want to do that, or wasn’t going to bend over backwards to make up for what she did to the brand of this program by failing to meet the standard, then we were going to move on. And she really wanted to be a part of this program, and she understands the severity of what she did.”
Last season, the 6-foot guard averaged 11.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for the Lady Vols in her first year in Knoxville. She started in 28 of 34 games and helped Tennessee reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Whitehorn spent her first two seasons at Clemson and averaged a career-best 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per outing during the 2023-24 campaign.
–Field Level Media
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