Former Tennessee All-SEC guard Kevin Punter

Kevin Punter's Tennessee basketball career is finished.

Punter, a senior point guard and the SEC's second leading scorer, has been shut down for the rest of the season and will have surgery next week to repair a broken foot, Vols coach Rick Barnes said before Friday's practice.

Barnes said Punter —Â a 6-foot-2 senior from Bronx, N.Y., who has scored 22.2 points per game this season —Â would fly up to his native New York on Monday, have the surgery and then fly back to Knoxville to finish this semester while recovering and then working out before the NBA Draft.

Punter, who played on the injury for at least a couple of weeks without saying anything until he couldn't take off his sock following the Vols' 80-70 loss at Kentucky on Feb. 18, will still be honored with the rest of Tennessee's seniors before Saturday's Noon Eastern game against Ole Miss in Thompson-Boling Arena.

Barnes said doctors will decide whether Punter can fly down to Nashville next week to join his teammates on the bench at the SEC Tournament.

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