Kentucky has released a statement in response to an ESPN article involving DeAndre Liggins that says Liggins was withheld from the first nine games of the 2009-10 season by the NCAA because of eligibility issues related to his recruitment.We won’t get into the details on here, but the story reports on Liggins’ relationship with Mike Barnett, an Indiana Elite founder, during high school.Here is the full statement from UK:

“It was the University of Kentucky’s choice to withhold DeAndre Liggins from competition at the start of the 2009-10 season while eligibility questions were being resolved. Once they were resolved the number of games we voluntarily withheld him from was considered sufficient. The original withholding was not mandated by the NCAA.” 

The story in which the statement refers to can be read here.