Jeff Mittie provides update on Ayoka Lee’s recovery ahead of NCAA Tournament

MANHATTAN, Kan. (WIBW) - The odds of star center Ayoka Lee making an impact on K-State women’s basketball’s NCAA Tournament run continue to increase.

Lee got an operation on her foot near the end of the regular season, and missed the Big 12 Tournament, with the intention of being as close to 100% as possible come the Big Dance.

On Sunday night, head coach Jeff Mittie said Lee is doing “better than expected” with her recovery.

Coach Mittie said she’s done heavy workouts on back-to-back days without needing to step out of drills this past week.

“I would say probably from a playing well restriction, she’s probably not able to go long long stretches without a rest,” Coach Mittie said. “Her conditioning level is probably, we’re probably gonna have to rest her. But that’s just me having to you know, being smart. Getting her breaks before the media timeouts, getting her breaks before the end of quarters. So that her breaks aren’t live game minutes.“

Lee also told the media she was feeling good on Sunday night.

She and the fifth-seeded Wildcats will begin the NCAA Tournament action on Friday against 12-seed Fairfield at 1:30 p.m. in Lexington, KY. The game will be on ESPNEWS.