The NCAA has denied Terry Henderson's sixth-year waiver, ending the N.C. State guard's college career on Friday.
Henderson, the Wolfpack's second-leading scorer last season, had appealed to the NCAA in March for an extra season of eligibility.
The NCAA gives athletes an eligibility clock of five years to play four seasons. A sixth season requires a waiver and the NCAA usually only approves sixth-year appeals that involve multiple seasons missed with injury. Henderson only missed one to injury and one when he transferred from West Virginia.
Recent sixth-year waiver cases similar to Henderson's, at Michigan State and Oregon, had given him hope in his appeal but it didn't work out. The NCAA doesn't make the details of eligibility cases public. The primary stumbling block for Henderson was proving why he left West Virginia. The NCAA views the transfer year as a choice and, in most cases, doesn't give that year back.
Henderson played his first two college seasons at West Virginia and had to sit out one season after he transferred to N.C. State in 2014. The first season he was eligible to play for the Wolfpack, in 2015-16, he suffered ligament damage in his right foot in the season opener. His season consisted of only 7 minutes of court time. Henderson needed an extension of his eligibility clock to get his injury-marred redshirt-junior season back.
The 6-5, 190-pound guard from Raleigh averaged 13.8 points per game last season and led the Wolfpack in 3-pointers (78). He would have been a good fit in new N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts' system but won't get the chance to play for him.
Keatts was prepared for the possibility of not having Henderson available. Keatts has already added graduate transfer guards Sam Hunt and Allerik Freeman to the Wolfpack and offered junior-college guard Mike'l Simms a scholarship earlier this week.
Henderson, who graduated in December, said last week he would pursue a professional career if the NCAA did not approve the waiver.
"I'm mature enough to go into the world," Henderson said in an interview last week. "I've done a lot and been through a lot. I'll be ready."
