The Humble Legend

By: D. Scott Fritchen

You want to know how it all began. Well, I'm here to tell you how it all began. It began with Ayoka Lee reading a book. That's right. Elementary school kids usually cannot wait to blow off some steam after school. Not Lee. No, Lee was different. Lee had other interests. She had absolutely zero desire to pick up a basketball. Absolutely none.

"No, I was the kid who just wanted to stay inside and read a book," she begins.

Her older brother played basketball. One day, he dragged Ayoka out to the driveway.

"I tried it, and I liked it, and I was pretty good at it," Lee says. "So, I kept playing, and here I am today."

And where is Lee exactly? Well, she's in the NCAA Division I women's basketball record book, the Big 12 Conference record book, and she owns a portion of the Kansas State women's basketball record book — her name is listed at the top of 43 individual achievements. In short, she's recorded one of the greatest careers in Big 12 history and will go down as arguably the finest player in K-State history. There are currently six women's basketball jerseys hanging in the rafters at Bramlage Coliseum.

One day, there will be seven.

"Goodness, in my mind, I'm like, 'Thank you, Jesus,'" Lee says. "It just was not a part of my plan at all. It's crazy. It's crazy. Me? I'm just a person. Who am I to expect to be someone, to have my name in the rafters, or for people to remember watching me play when I was at K-State? I worked really hard and all those things, but still, I have had a lot of teammates who've worked just as hard if not harder and don't have half the accomplishments I do. It's all very humbling."

Her profile and list of achievements in the K-State women's basketball media guide spans six pages. Among her trophy case, she's a two-time All-America selection by The Athletic, a First Team All-America selection by Sports Illustrated, a Third Team All-America selection by Sporting News, a three-time Lisa Leslie Award finalist, a four-time All-Big 12 First Team selection, a two-time Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection, a three-time Academic All-American, the 2020 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, and the 2024-25 Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year.

People talk about once-in-a-generation players. Sometimes the term is overused. Here, it cannot be underscored enough.

And it all began with a girl who one afternoon put down the book and picked up a ball.

• • •

"Sometimes I have to catch myself because you're so much in the fight that sometimes you need to take a step back and just appreciate it — appreciate the opportunity to coach her, appreciate the opportunity to watch this team play with her. There's no question it's special for all of us to be a part of it. I'm just fortunate to coach her." — Jeff Mittie

• • •

Byron, Minnesota, is a town of about 5,000 people nestled approximately five miles west of Rochester. This February, its community events featured, "All About Owls," and "Open Mic Night," and "Great Backyard Bird Count." Someday, the Byron community events might feature another presentation: "An Appreciation of Ayoka Lee."

Lee participated in track and field and played volleyball, but basketball, well, basketball was just… different.

"For a lack of a better term," she says, "I just had a knack for it."

Her high school volleyball coach believed that volleyball could take her places in college.

"Then he saw one of our early basketball games and said, 'Basketball is where you're supposed to be," Lee says.

When did Lee believe that basketball could take her places?

"Probably in the eighth grade," she says. "I started playing AAU basketball, and my coach pointed that out for me. My family wasn't well off financially, so if I had college paid for and my mom didn't have to worry about putting me through school, that was really the goal. I just thought I could ride the bench and be just fine. I was preparing myself for that."

Lee grew up a member of the National Honor Society and was voted class president at Byron High School. She was a three-time letterwinner in volleyball and a two-time letterwinner in track and field. Her knack for basketball turned into domination. As a sophomore, she averaged 24.6 points, 13.8 rebounds and 4.5 blocks. As a junior, she averaged 24.9 points, 16.4 rebounds and 4.1 blocks. As a senior, she averaged 26.6 points, 15.7 rebounds and 5.5 blocks. She set Byron High School all-time records with 2,287 points, 1,148 rebounds and 461 blocks. She was a 2018 Miss Minnesota Basketball finalist, the No. 4-rated player in the Midwest by Five State Hoops, and the 38^th-best post player in the nation by ESPNW Hoopgurlz.

A few Division I schools stopped by Byron High School to watch Lee play, only a few offered her a scholarship. Then one day, she met then-associate head coach Brian Ostermann from K-State. A native of Good Thunder, Minnesota, Ostermann was tipped off about this special talent in his home state.

"I still remember my first phone call with Coach O and the first home visit," Lee says. "I just had never heard of K-State. They offered me to come up for a visit. I went on my visit and fell in love within the first hour. I think there are moments in your life where there are things you just know. You have an innate sense that this is for sure the decision to make, and that's what it felt like on my visit. I can't describe it other than God wanted me here.

"We visited K-State in October 2016. I committed to K-State on New Year's Day of 2017."

• • •

"It's a lot deeper than just basketball. This is a young lady that's been Scholar Athlete of the Year in the Big 12. She has represented Kansas State Athletics at numerous events throughout whether it be the Catbacker Tour or Ahearn Fund dinners, whether it be pep-rallies at the start of the year, whether it be Student-Athlete Council — all of the above. Her platform because she's an outstanding basketball player gives her a bigger platform, and I think she just uses it really, really well. She has as good of an appreciation of the opportunities that are provided to student-athletes as any player I've ever had, and in this era where there's a lot of entitlement, a lot of 'this is what I'm owed,' out there, she sets the tone in that locker room. We don't have that in our locker room. We're owed nothing. We're owed nothing. We earn everything we get. We're owed nothing." — Jeff Mittie

• • •

Ayoka Lee remembers her first night in Manhattan in May 2018. She was going to redshirt the 2018-19 season while rehabilitating a torn ACL suffered during her final high school state tournament game. That night, lying in bed for the first time in the Little Apple, she thought about this next chapter.

"I came in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," she says. "Any freshman coming into college, you're really excited and really wanting to fit in with your roommates and teammates. There was just anxiety around fitting in plus my expectations had to change because I was just in rehab, so I was just trying to find out where I fit what was my job, all those things. I was just trying to figure it out, this new chapter."

Ten days into her redshirt freshman season in 2019-20, she earned Big 12 Freshman of the Week for the first time. The first freshman in K-State history to reach 400 points, 300 rebounds and 80 blocks, she set nine Big 12 or K-State single-season records. She ended up winning Big 12 Freshman of the Week 12 times. No other player in Big 12 freshman had ever won the honor more than nine times. Including Britteny Griner and Courtney Paris.

She earned WBCA All-America Honorable Mention honors, becoming the first WBCA All-American under K-State head coach Jeff Mittie. She also earned CoSIDA Academic All-American.

Then, as a sophomore, Lee became the first player in K-State history to reach 450 points, 200 rebounds and 45 blocks in each of her first two seasons. She was rated as the third most-efficient player in Division I women's basketball. She was the also the only Division I player to shoot better than 60% from the floor and 80% from the free-throw line. She averaged 19.1 points, ranked third in the nation in shooting 62.1% from the floor, ranked fifth in the Big 12 in shooting 81.2% on free throws, and ranked sixth in the Big 12 with 8.7 rebounds per game, while blocking 49 shots.

As for her favorite performance as a sophomore? Against Oklahoma, she scored 37 points, the most ever scored by a K-State player in a Big 12 game and the most ever scored by a K-State sophomore. She also added 18 rebounds, becoming the fifth player in school history to register a double-double with at least 30 points and 15 rebounds. Her 15 made field goals in that game tied for the most field goals ever made in a conference game, tying a mark set in 1990.

Oh, she would face Oklahoma again.

• • •

"I think it says a lot about the kind of player she is when she's trying to take a charge in a 20-point game late in the game and not taking plays off. This is a complete player. We focus sometimes on the offensive end, but she was tasked with defending guards today at the 3-point line. Yokie is the same person, good, bad, every day. I've really enjoyed coaching this team in that they're really consistent, good people, want to work hard, and are becoming closer as a team. Yokie sets the standard for that." — Jeff Mittie

• • •

At 2:53 p.m. on Sunday, January 23, 2022, Ayoka Lee smashed No. 14 Oklahoma behind a NCAA Division I women's record-setting 61 points in a 94-65 victory. She scored her 61^st point on a layup with 2 minutes, 53 seconds left in the fourth quarter. She went to the bench for good to a standing ovation with 2:37 left following her crowning performance at Bramlage Coliseum. She quickly became a trending topic on Twitter, as the women's college basketball world, and others, began buzzing at her historic achievement that landed her on ESPN's SportsCenter.

Lee, who shot 23-of-30 from the floor and 15-of-17 from the foul line, topped Brittney Griner's Big 12 Conference record of 50 points on a layup with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter. She scored the most points by a Division I player in a single game in the 2021-22 season on a turnaround layup that gave her 53 points.

She outscored Oklahoma 32 to 27 in the first half.

The fourth player in K-State history with 1,300 points, 700 rebounds and 200 blocks, Lee entered the game as the national leader with 424 points and fourth with 23.6 points per game.

After the final buzzer, Lee's teammates mobbed her during an ESPN interview on the basketball court.

"There's an immense amount of gratitude," Lee says, recalling the record-setting performance during an interview on Thursday. "Things like that don't just happen. I have to really sit and think about that. That doesn't just happen. And it takes so many things falling into place for that to be possible. I don't know if it's something I'll ever be able to truly wrap by mind around, but I think that's a good thing."

• • •

"Yokie has always been a young lady who is where her feet are and that's what I've loved about her since she came in as a freshman. She's just so grateful for the entire experience. She uses words as a young adult like, 'thankful,' 'grateful,' 'appreciative,' more than any kid I've ever coached. It's really not hard for her to be where her feet are." — Jeff Mittie

• • •

On Saturday, after No. 12 K-State faces Kansas in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown at Bramlage Coliseum, Ayoka Lee and six other senior players will be recognized during a postgame ceremony. Lee's mother, her two best friends, and a former high school coach will be in attendance.

"Senior Day? I haven't thought about it a ton," Lee says. "I was talking to one of my friends on the rowing team at Bible study last night and I was like, 'Dang, this is a really big chapter we're celebrating.' But, no, I haven't thought about it a lot. It's a lot to reflect on. It's definitely worth taking the time to reflect on, and I need to, to just slow down enough to actually do that, I think."

There's the added element that Lee will be playing in her first game since an 81-69 win over Arizona State on January 19. Lee, who leads the team with 16.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks, has missed more than a month of action while recovering from a fractured right foot.

"I'm really excited to be back out there for such a special night," she says. "Emotion? Yeah. It's never easy to get injured and never easy specifically this year to get injured at the time that I did. It was very frustrating, but I'm very glad that I'll be back for the last few regular season games before we get to the postseason.

"As much as I did not appreciate breaking my foot, I think going through that makes me appreciate this time of year more just because it is a long season and it can be really easy to be like, 'Dang, we've been playing forever.' But yeah, having that setback was an opportunity to use it as a recharge so that I'm ready to finish the year strong."

K-State, 24-4 overall and 12-3 in the Big 12, was the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 Conference, and remains in a battle to bring those hopes to fruition. K-State finds itself one game back of TCU (13-2) and Baylor (13-2). The Wildcats conclude their home season against the Bears on Monday and face Iowa State in the regular-season finale on Sunday in Ames, Iowa. Although K-State's national stock took a hit with a 70-57 loss at No. 17 West Virginia on Monday, hope remains that a strong finish could keep the Wildcats among the top 16 overall NCAA Tournament seeds, which would allow them to host the first two tournament rounds in Manhattan.

"Definitely the Big 12 Championship is still a goal, so finishing with three wins, and winning the Big 12 Tournament is a goal," Lee says. "A Big 12 Championship is first and foremost in my head, but winning the tournament would also be awesome and hopefully we'll face some of the teams again that we lost to. And then the other goal is just making a run in the tournament. In my time here, we've never made it past the second round, so doing that would be the start."

Meanwhile, her career impact continues to run of like ticker tape. She's the first player in K-State history and the third in Big 12 history with 2,000 or more points, 1,000 or more rebounds and 300 or more blocks. She owns the all-time K-State records for points (2,482), rebounds (1,231) and blocks (351). She's the only player in school history with 700 points, 300 rebounds and 90 blocks in a season. She ranks first in K-State history and ninth in Big 12 history in averaging 18.8 points over her career, and she ranks first in K-State history and fourth in Big 12 history with 9.3 rebounds over her career, and she ranks first in K-State history and seventh in Big 12 history with 2.66 blocks per game. She ranks first in K-State history and tied for third in Big 12 history with 63 double-doubles. There's more. There's plenty more.

It all started with a girl in Byron, Minnesota, who put her book down and went out to play many years ago.

"I'd tell her so many things," Lee says. "I'd tell her so many things. I'd tell her it's going to be OK. I'd tell her that you're doing everything you need to be doing, and that it's OK just to be yourself even if it doesn't feel like you completely fit in. Just be yourself. It's OK to be different."

The girl is different.

She's a legend.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ayoka Lee

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