Lady Vols Ink Ayodele, Add Strength On Boards

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee women's basketball head coach Kim Caldwell announced Tuesday that she has received an SEC Grant-in-Aid (GIA) and Institutional Financial Aid Agreement (IFAA) from transfer Rapuluchi Ayodele (rap-uh-LOO-chee EYE-oh-dell).

The 6-foot-1 forward, who played in all 32 games and started 15 last season at Pitt, is a native of Móstoles (MOST-oh-less), Spain, and graduate of IES Manuela Malasaña (MON-well-uh mall-uh-SAWN-yuh) High School. Ayodele will compete as a fifth-year during the 2024-25 campaign and is the fifth player to sign out of the transfer portal with the Lady Vols under the leadership of first-year head coach Kim Caldwell. She joins 6-2 sophomore forward Alyssa Latham (Syracuse), 6-4 junior forward Lazaria (luh-Zarr-ee-uh) Spearman (Miami), 5-7 senior guard Samara (suh-MARE-uh) Spencer (Arkansas) and 5-11 junior guard Ruby Whitehorn (Clemson).

"We had an opportunity to add depth and rebounding strength at the forward position, and that's exactly what we've done with Rapuluchi joining the Lady Vol family," Caldwell said. "She provides a very strong and athletic presence in the paint and plays with great energy and intensity. She is a nice fit for what we are trying to do on both ends of the floor as well as for the team chemistry we are trying to build within our program."

In her only season with the Panthers, Ayodele produced 4.7 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting 46.4 percent from the field during an average of 17.7 minutes per contest. One of only four players to see action in every game, she finished second on the squad in rebounding, second in field goal percentage, third in blocked shots (15), fourth in steals (18) and sixth in scoring.

Starting the last four games of the season for Pitt, Ayodele averaged 5.2 ppg. and 7.8 rpg. during that stretch. She shot 50 percent from the field and 78 percent at the free throw line while facing Syracuse, Miami, Boston College and Georgia Tech during that span, grabbing 11 and 12 rebounds, respectively, in the first two of those match-ups. Her eight-point, 10-rebound output vs. Notre Dame on Jan. 4 was perhaps her most complete effort during ACC play, while her 18-point, 14-rebound performance against West Virginia on Nov. 11 established her bests at the Division I level.

Prior to arriving in Pittsburgh, Ayodele spent three seasons playing in the junior college ranks and averaged a double-double in points and rebounds at all three stops. During her most recent stint, she earned second-team NJCAA All-America honors at Indian River State College in Florida after averaging 14.1 points and 14.1 rebounds while shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 71.6 percent from the charity stripe in 2022-23. Ayodele led IRSC with 53 steals and 23 blocks and racked up 23 double-doubles on the year. She also scored in double figures 24 times while hitting for at least 20 points on six occasions.

In 2021-22, Ayodele was named a first-team NJCAA All-American and the Central Conference Player of the Year at Eastern Florida State College. She averaged a double-double with 13.6 points and 13.2 rebounds while shooting 54.5 percent from the floor. She added team highs of 50 steals, 45 blocks and 35 assists, while her 422 rebounds were a program record for a single season. The sophomore posted a team-best 18 double-doubles on the year while scoring in double figures 26 times and grabbing 10+ rebounds on 22 occasions.

Her first collegiate season was spent in 2020-21 at Independence Community College in Kansas, where she started 26 games and averaged 10.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.2 blocks while shooting 47.6 percent from the floor. She carded 12 double-doubles and scored in double digits 15 times while grabbing at least 10 rebounds on 19 occasions.

Prior to coming to the United States, Ayodele played for CB Pozuelo, a club in Spain's fourth tier "Liga EBA" in 2019-20. She appeared in 17 games, averaging 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds as the team's third-leading scorer and top rebounder while averaging 15.6 minutes per outing.

University of Tennessee Athletics

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