UK Basketball: Tai Wynyard may miss rest of season, per John Calipari

It appears Tai Wynyard won’t be returning this season for the Kentucky Wildcats.

On Monday, John Calipari revealed that Wynyard’s lingering back issue will likely sideline the sophomore forward for the rest of the season. Wynyard’s injury is a disc issue that he’s already tried to come back from twice this season, and it hasn’t worked.

Cal also said that freshman guard Jemarl Baker likely can’t return in time to help Kentucky with just eight games remaining in the regular season. Baker is still recovering from a knee procedure that’s kept him sidelined for the entire season thus far, so we shouldn’t expect to see him either.

Wynyard is a redshirt sophomore averaging one point and 1.8 rebounds in 5.4 minutes per game. He has not played in the last 10 games. His last action was against Georgia on Dec. 31. He had one rebound in seven minutes of play.

Wynyard also didn’t play for a long stretch last year. He sat out the last 14 games last season, seeing his last playing time on Feb. 7 against the LSU Tigers.

The New Zealand native is one of the best in his home country. He played for the U19 New Zealand Olympic team at the FIBA World Cup in Cairo, Egypt (which John Calipari coached Team USA in). He averaged 14.3 PPG and 9.3 RPG while shooting 60.6 percent in seven games.

Go ‘like’ our Facebook page and follow our Twitter page to get all of the latest Kentucky Wildcats news and views.