Athens, Ga. ? Guard Jarvis Hayes will enter the NBA Draft, a decision he announced the day after Georgia suspended his coach and abruptly ended its season.

Hayes, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer for the past two years, will not sign with an agent, meaning the junior could return to the team next season.

Coach Jim Harrick was suspended with pay Monday and the school withdrew from the SEC and NCAA tournaments after finding that three players were involved in academic fraud in a class taught by Harrick’s son.

Hayes — who had previously announced his intention to stay in school — said Tuesday the scandal was part of the reason he wanted to enter the draft.

Hayes expects to graduate in August. His twin brother, Jonas, also a junior on the Georgia team, also will graduate in August and is undecided about returning for his senior season.

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Cincinnati reinstates Flowers: Cincinnati reserve Rod Flowers was reinstated after being thrown off the team March 5 for what coach Bob Huggins said was detrimental conduct. Flowers, a 6-foot-8 forward/center, will be allowed to play tonight in Cincinnati’s first-round game against Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA tournament at Louisville, Ky.

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Texas Tech investigating: Texas Tech officials launched a probe Tuesday to determine who distributed confidential information about former player Nick Valdez and whether federal privacy laws were broken.

The information was distributed at a March 4 meeting of Lubbock, Texas, business leaders. Valdez quit the team Feb. 21 in the wake of a one-game suspension against Texas.

The Buckley Amendment protects a student’s academic records. A violation could result in the loss of federal funding.

The amendment, a law enacted in 1974, was spotlighted in March 1998 when then-Texas assistant Eddie Oran admitted faxing Luke Axtell’s grades to an Austin radio station. Head coach Tom Penders eventually quit, and Axtell transferred to Kansas.