Foster: Lee will be good surprise
Rochelle Lee won’t be able to escape the comparisons.
It didn’t take long for observers to draw parallels between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s new center and Jasmine Joyner, who was a Mocs senior last season. Lee is one of five freshmen on UTC’s roster for the 2017-18 season and one of six new Mocs overall.
Joyner was a three-time selection to the All-Southern Conference first team and the 2016-17 SoCon defensive player of the year, and with 436 blocked shots, she finished her career eighth in NCAA history.
Both players are tall — Lee is 6-foot-3, Joyner 6-2 — and Lee hails from the Memphis area, having prepped at both Southwind and Germantown. Joyner played at Southaven High School in Mississippi, just on the other side of the Tennessee state line, and competed with a Memphis-based AAU program.
“They say I play like Jasmine, that everything I do is like Jasmine,” Lee said Wednesday. “How I talk, everything. They always say I’m just like her.”
If her career winds up like Joyner’s, that won’t be a bad thing.
UTC coach Jim Foster believes Lee is “going to surprise some people.”
“I love her length,” he said. “She’s competitive, wants to get better. She’s a hard worker. She’s learned how to work hard. She’s doing very well.”
Lee has been pushed in practice during the offseason and preseason. Going against junior Ashlyn Wert and sophomore Arianne Whitaker — all three have different skills — has helped the freshman figure out what she can do. She said she figures to be able to use her speed and athleticism going against opponents in games while also relying on her midrange jump shot if needed.
It also helps that the talented freshman class — it also includes guards Brooke Burns, Bria Dial, Mya Long and Jacobi Lynn — have done a good job of pushing each other.
“We all stick together,” Lee said. “We’re already good, so we just encourage each other, keep pushing each other and all keep a good attitude. We’re getting stronger and better, so it helps a lot.
“They’re real hard workers, and it’s fun hanging around and being around them.”