May 1, 2023
Locked on Women’s Basketball: K-State Ayoka Lee’s big comeback
By The Next
Missy and Ayoka Lee chat about her recovery journey, her first workout since the injury and what she has learned from being out
It’s time for another episode of the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast. The women’s basketball world, especially the Big 12, was stunned when it was announced that K-State’s Ayoka Lee would be out for the 2022-23 season with a knee injury. But with some ‘unfinished business’ left, Lee is setting up for a big-time comeback for the 2023-24 season. Host Missy Heidrick talked with Lee about her journey so far, what she learned from being out this past season and what lies ahead for the redshirt senior.
Continue reading with a subscription to The Next
Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers, editors, and photographers by subscribing today.
Already a member?
Login
Ayoka Lee talks about the past year and the conversations she had with her trainers and coaches about her knee injury:
“Yeah. It’s crazy to hear kind of you reflecting on just the timeline in that it was a year ago going through having these conversations but yeah, obviously, after the last season I played, there are just a lot of things, conversations I had to have with our trainers and coaches just about where my knee was and what treatment and would look like going forward and just like what was going on there. So we were able to meet with doctors, trainers, coach committee and stuff.
And the outcome that came from all of that was I had to have surgery to make my knee better, just that it wasn’t sustainable. And I couldn’t play another collegiate season the way it was. So yeah, it was a lot of tough conversations. Telling my teammates was probably the hardest because I love doing my day with them, doing all the hard things during the preseason workouts and all that stuff. And knowing that I wasn’t going to be on the floor, embracing the suck with them was a hard conversation to have.”
Ayoka Lee talks about her rehab process and the first time she had to do basketball workouts since the injury:
“It was actually very recently. This rehab process is very long. Two weeks ago, I got to start stationary shooting for our spring workouts. Yeah, and it was really fun. Just got to shoot without leaving the ground. But still bending my knees follow through all that good stuff. So, yeah, it was really fun. And yeah, excited to build off of that.”
Add Locked On Women’s Basketball to your daily routine
Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.
Make sure to subscribe to Locked on Women’s Basketball, where we have new shows every weekday.
For more coverage of the NCAAW, click here.
