With the Badgers due to play their first game in a new $76 million arena Saturday, Okey announced Tuesday he is leaving the team immediately, closing out a disappointing season in which he was suspended for two games and sidelined with chronic back pains.
The news came a day after Okey was bumped from the starting lineup in a tiff with coach Dick Bennett.
"Three years ago I couldn't wait to announce my desire to be a Badger," Okey said in a statement read by his mother, Amy Okey. "My love for this state, its fans, and most of all, my teammates, has never wavered. But in basketball you have to be excited to play and motivated to practice and work hard.
"And although I've tried to work through it, it is no longer possible to nurture my love for the game in this negative environment."
Amy Okey said her son plans to remain at Wisconsin as a student for the spring semester, then possibly transfer to another school.
Bennett announced the departure and said he supported Okey's decision.
"As difficult as it is right now, Sam has given all he can give to this program," Bennett said. "If indeed he wishes to keep playing, I want him to continue to have that opportunity."
Bennett said he confronted Okey on Monday about missing a weight-lifting session. Okey said he did not know about the session, the coach said.
Bennett said he then told Okey he was no longer a starter, taking away his white starter's practice jersey and replacing it with a reserve red one. The coach said he told Okey he would have to earn his way back into the starting rotation.
Okey and his coach were scheduled to meet Tuesday morning, but when Okey arrived, he told Bennett he was leaving the team.
The 6-foot-7 junior played in just nine of 15 games this season because of back spasms and the two-game suspension that began the season. The Capital Times in Madison reported the suspension was for smoking marijuana, but the university said only that Okey was suspended for disciplinary reasons.
The forward was the highest-scoring returning player at the beginning of the season after averaging 11.2 points last season. That was down from 13.2 points as a freshman, when he was the first player in Big Ten history to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and blocked shots.
Despite an off-season knee injury and his rocky start this season, Okey was averaging 9.8 points a game, putting him second on the team behind guard Sean Mason.