After this season, redshirt senior guard Kaiya Wynn will be leaving the Tennessee Volunteers, as she will not be eligible to return anymore. As the Vols played their Senior Day game against the Vanderbilt Commodores, Wynn was kept on the bench by head coach Kim Caldwell as fans tried to get her to play the guard, who had a slew of injury-related issues.
She tore her Achilles tendon before the 2024-2025 season began, which meant that she was eligible for a redshirt year. Even though she was out, Wynn has remained a fan favorite over at Tennessee, and many are happy to see her, even though she has minimal minutes this season due to her injury problems.
As Senior Night rolled in, many fans were expecting her to take to the court one last time before riding into the sunset, but that did not happen. This led to many of them slamming head coach Kim Caldwell, especially after LSU head coach Kim Mulkey let Izzy Besselman, a senior player with a heart condition, play her final minutes as a senior during their own Senior Night.
“Kim Mulkey was able to get her senior who has a heart condition in her last game for 45 secs and Caldwell couldn’t get Kaiya on the floor???,” said one fan.
“What!?! I was already bothered by the situation but I guess i didn’t realize it that part. I need to give mulkey more credit and Caldwell even less ….,” added another fan.
“She deserved to at least be put in the game today. Highly disappointed in the staff for the choice not to put her in the game.,” one person said.
“Thank you, Wynn!” thanked one fan.
“Nykesha Sales stood on floor with ruptured Achilles and scored an uncontested layup to make her UConn all time leading scorer. Pat Summitt did that for opposing team.,” one person pointed out.
“She probably already blamed Kaiya 🤷🏾♂️. You know how Kim rolls,” noted one person.
Kaiya Wynn Also Gets SEC Honor
Even though she did not even get to play on Senior Night, Kaiya Wynn still ended the season with one prestigious recognition from the SEC. The redshirt senior guard was named to the 2026 SEC Community Service Team. As she was out with an injury, she became a student volunteer, becoming a member of VOLeaders and helped out in an outreach to South Africa and Botswana in 2024 with other Tennessee student-athletes.
She also participated in Hoops for Hope, which was held at the Farragut High School in Farragut, Tennessee, which is an outreach to spread awareness for Down Syndrome, as well as being a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and at the Young-Williams Animal Shelter.
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