NC State women’s basketball readies to face Ayoka Lee, Kansas State in NCAA 2nd round
On January 23, Kansas State junior center Ayoka Lee made history when she scored 61 points against Oklahoma, an NCAA Division I women’s basketball single-game record.
“Sometimes — like, really sometimes after I have to remind myself, oh yeah, like that happened,” Lee told the media on Sunday. “Because the season is so long.”
The performance broke a 35 year-old record.
If the 6-foot-6 Lee wasn’t a household name then, she’s been one since, no matter how much she and her teammates want to put that one game behind them.
She’ll be on the big stage again on Monday when she faces N.C. State center Elissa Cunane. Kansas State (20-12) and N.C. State (30-3) will play at 4 p.m. on Monday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Wolfpack and Wildcats are playing in a rematch of a Nov. 19 game in which N.C. State defeated Kansas State 90-69. Cunane and Lee each had 19 in that match up.
The stakes are higher this time around. Both players, though, will be the center of attention for the opposing coaches. Lee has been at the top of scouting reports for a long time, and breaking an NCAA scoring record didn’t help that.
“You try to make it hard for them to get it to her, but they are really good at it. I mean, that’s what they do. So work inside-out,” Wolfpack coach Wes Moore said. “We prepare three or four different ways to defend her and you would love to just have to use one of them. But if that’s not working then obviously you go to plan B and if need be plan C or whatever. So that’s what we’ll do today in practice is kind of reintegrate those things. But really at some point you have to just hope she misses a few because she doesn’t miss very often.”
Moore added that Lee has good hands, utilizes a baby hook in the lane and is aggressive when it comes to attacking the offensive boards.
Defending Lee won’t fall solely on Cunane and reserve center Camille Hobby.
“The guards are going to have to be really active and helping from the weak side and maybe digging down a little bit,” Moore said. “So it’s a team effort for sure, trying to slow her down.”
Wildcats coach Jeff Mittie has seen it all when it comes to teams trying to defend Lee. He’s seen double teams and triple teams sent her way. They start to bump and push Lee before she gets to the post, focusing on her as soon as she gets to the foul line.
She’s dealt with it a lot this season.
“I think she’s done a good job of adjusting, but I still think — as it would be for any player that is having to handle that,” Mittie said. “She’s just got to handle it and she’s got to work hard at getting her position because people are going to take those shots at her, and you hope you get a good whistle in that area.”
Lee scored 20 points in the Wildcats’ 50-40 win over Washington State on Saturday.
During her historic game, Lee was 23-of-30 from the field and 15-of-17 from the foul line. Her teammates didn’t realize they were part of history in real time.
“Yeah, it was a little unreal. And I was on the court a lot that game, so I come off on the bench and I look and I’m like, 30! It’s not even halftime yet, right?,” K-State guard Serena Sundell said. “And then they just really got playing her the same way, so I didn’t see any reason why we wouldn’t just keep — she was so efficient, keep going in the same thing, and kind of happened some many times you don’t really realize — I didn’t realize until she was running off the court and the announcer was like, she set the NCAA record. And I was like, how many did she have? 61, holy crap. It was crazy. It was really unreal.”
The Sooners didn’t make a change, defensively. Moore wouldn’t tip his hand completely on his strategy, but alluded to the fact he can’t let Lee dictate their approach.
“It’s interesting to see those adjustments and, you know, the thing is there’s — like I said, there’s several ways of doing it,” Moore said. “But you also got to recognize, what are we good at doing? You got to do what you do well but at the same time, like I said, you have to have a lot of options. Something isn’t working we’re going to try something else and hope one of them works.”
While Lee had 19 in the first meeting, Sundell hit five 3s.
“They have other people that are capable of having a day like that,” Moore said. “And that can mess us up your plans in a hurry. There will be fans up there yelling, why aren’t you guarding her? Hey, we have to pick our poison here, you know.”
Cunane knows it’ll be a four-quarter battle. Sunday, she admitted to taking her foot off the gas a little in the fourth quarter of the first meeting.
“I still think about that to this day,” Cunane said. “So I think just focusing on whether we’re going to be in front, behind, three quarters. Whatever we’re going to do defensively just buying into that and fighting every single possession.”
Old against young
N.C. State is one of the oldest teams in the country, with four seniors in the starting five. On the flip side, the Wildcats start three freshmen.
It’ll be a contrast of experience in the second round.
“It is like a little bit intimidating because we are young and they are more experienced,” Wildcats’ freshman guard Brylee Glenn said. “But then again, like I said early, we have played them before so we do kind of know their style of play. So at the end of the day we just have to remain aggressive, keep attacking their guards and do what we do. And it should be fun. It should be fun.”
Glenn had seven points in the previous match up. Sundell had a better outing, finishing with 21.
“I think we’re going to fall back on our preparations,” Sundell said. “Our coaches have done a great job to put us in this position. And yeah, it’s a big stage. Obviously we’re the underdogs, but I think we really don’t have a lot of fear going into this game because it’s just a huge opportunity.”
Size in the backcourt
Kansas State will present one of the tallest backcourts N.C. State has seen this season.
Twins Jaelyn and Brylee Glenn are 6’1 and 6’0, respectively. Sundell is 6’1.
N.C. State’s backcourt features point guard Raina Perez (5’4) and Kai Crutchfield (5’9). Diamond Johnson (5’5) comes off the bench for the Pack. The Philadelphia native isn’t phased by the taller guards.
“I basically been playing against taller guards all my life,” Johnson said. “So that was good. But it’s definitely a challenge. They are longer, lanky, you know, but I do have quickness to get a step ahead. Playing against taller guards makes me better, makes me focus on my shot more, creating space more.”
Johnson and Perez combined for 25 points and 11-for-19 from the field.
“I like playing against taller guards, even in practice, everybody is taller than me except for Raina. She thinks she’s taller than me but she’s not,” Johnson said. “Even in practice I try to guard someone like Jakia (Brown-Turner) or Kai so I can learn how to guard bigger guards more. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s been good to me going against taller guards.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2022 at 6:07 PM with the headline "NC State women’s basketball readies to face Ayoka Lee, Kansas State in NCAA 2nd round."
