Byron grad Ayoka Lee returns to spectacular form for No. 14-ranked Kansas State women

MANHATTAN, Kan. — It took a year, but Ayoka Lee is back to doing what she does best — not just playing in basketball games, but dominating them.

The 6-foot-6 Byron High School graduate and sixth-year Kansas State University senior spent all of last season rehabilitating from a torn ACL to her right knee. Arguably Kansas State’s best player ever and the country’s all-time record holder for points scored in a game with 61 against Oklahoma two seasons ago — all Lee could do a year ago was watch her team play.

She did that as it finished 19-17 and was relegated to the NIT tournament. That, after the Wildcats reached the NCAA Tournament the season before with Lee leading the way.

“The most difficult part was seeing the gaps out there that I knew I used to fill,” said Lee, who averaged 22 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocked shots per game as a junior. “I knew that my teammates had to intentionally try to fill them. That was hard because I knew I could have helped and they were struggling through it.”

Twelve months later, Kansas State’s all-time leader in scoring average (19.1 points per game) and blocked shots per game (2.7) is back to being a helper.

Is she ever. The 2018 Byron graduate is averaging 19 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, and shooting a dazzling 63% from the field for 6-1 Kansas State. She’s helped carry the Wildcats to a pair of big-time wins, stunning then No. 2-ranked Iowa 65-58 on the Hawkeyes’ home floor on Nov. 16, and beating Rochester Lourdes graduate Alyssa Ustby and her No. 24-ranked University of North Carolina team 63-56 on Nov. 25.

Those two head-turning wins have pushed Kansas State to a No. 14 national ranking.

Though Kansas State beating Iowa on its home court registered as stunning to most, it wasn’t to Lee.

“I was not all that surprised by it,” said Lee, who carried the Wildcats with 22 points (9-of-14 from the field, 2-2 from the line), 12 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. “I knew it was a game where we’d have to play a full 40 minutes and I knew they had an amazing fan base. We just had to feed our own energy and stay the course. Everyone was confident going into that game. But beating Iowa, that just reinforced our confidence and gave us even more motivation to get better. It was a springboard.”

Kansas State University senior and Byron graduate Ayoka Lee powers up for a shot this season against the University of Iowa. Contributed / Kansas State University athletics

No matter how the season started for Kansas State, basketball-starved Lee likely would have been smiling. She just wanted to be out there again. But how it’s gone — K-State’s only loss 77-70 on Sunday, Nov. 26, in a second meeting with Iowa— has been a Wildcats' feast.

“It’s really been exciting to be on the court with my team again,” Lee said. “And doing as well as we’ve done, it motivates us to continue to get better. It’s a really long season. But this is just a small taste of how good we can be.”

It might also be just a small taste of what is to come for Lee personally. The sixth-year senior has been through ACL surgery before. She entered her freshman year of college rehabbing from an ACL injury that she incurred at the state tournament her senior season at Byron. Lee then redshirted in her first year at K-State.

Having been through this kind of injury twice, Lee is surprised at how unbridled she’s been this second time around.

“My knee is feeling good,” she said. “It’s not holding me back at all. And I’m just really grateful to be out there again. I’m grateful for the small moments too of being on a team that I was not a part of (in the same way) last year. Just being in the huddle and talking during timeouts. It all means so much to me.”

After stunning Iowa and its superstar Caitlin Clark on Nov. 16, things got really cool in a more personal way nine days later for Lee when she went up against Ustby in a tournament in Florida.

Raised just miles apart and having played against each other in the Hiawatha Valley League, both are proven national stars in women’s basketball. Ustby was first-team All-ACC last year when the 6-foot-1 forward helped the Tar Heels to a 22-11 record and into the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Ustby didn’t have her usual game against Kansas State, with just four points and nine rebounds before fouling out. But Lee knows how good she is and made sure to remind her of that as they talked post-game.

“I talked to her for a few moments after the game,” Lee said. “For me, there is a sense of pride in seeing someone like her that is successful and from a town so close to me and someone I played against in high school. She has found a good place (at North Carolina). I just told her to keep things up the rest of the season.”

One week before that was another highlight and another game that brought Lee back to her roots. This one came with Wisconsin coming to town. On that roster is Sacia Vanderpool, a former teammate of Lee’s at Byron and their families close friends. Lee hosted a Vanderpool-Lee reunion the night before the game. She followed that by dropping 20 points on the Badgers in a 75-57 win.

These have been good times for Lee. Now in her senior season with Kansas State, her aim is to cherish every bit of this final ride.