Lee Aaliya knew what he wanted for the 2026-27 basketball season. While he was happy playing professional basketball in Spain, the Argentinian forward had his sights set on playing collegiately for Ohio State and coach Jake Diebler.
Aaliya liked what he had seen about the program. His virtual conversations with the coaching staff were what he wanted to hear. Even the Buckeyes’ social media accounts showing offseason workouts were to his liking. There was just one problem – he’d been down this road before, and it hadn’t led where he had hoped.
In August 2023, Aaliya announced a commitment to play for Michigan and coach Juwan Howard. Six months later, the 19-year-old announced that he would instead be heading to Spain after not being cleared by
the NCAA to play college basketball. It looked to have closed that door permanently, and yet in December 2025 Aaliya was on a video chat with Diebler taking the first step toward a second shot at playing in the Big Ten.
Now, with the Buckeyesin their second week of official fall practice, Aaliya’s patience has paid off. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward was officially added to Ohio State’s roster in late August, three years after his initial commitment to the Wolverines and just in time to begin the fall semester with his new teammates.
In between that first call with Diebler and arriving on campus, Aaliya wondered if it was actually going to work out this time.
“Long process,” he said. “I was not cleared and I was having my doubts about coming here because maybe they wouldn’t let me play. For sure, I had so many doubts, but finally I got the decision for me so I was happy for that.”
Standing outside the weight room inside the Schottenstein Center on Sept. 25, Aaliya cracked a wide smile and collected his thoughts while trying to catch his breath. In about 10 minutes, he was due to participate in a lifting session before the Buckeyes held an afternoon practice, and Aaliya had sprinted his way up the stairs and down the hall to make time to fit the interview into his schedule.
It was almost as if Aaliya, 21, is in a constant rush to make up for lost time.
“This is my fourth or fifth week here,” he said. “At first of course it’s really difficult because they’ve been working for weeks so they’re a step ahead of me, but I’ve been talking a lot with the coaches. Right now I’m doing good and everyone is kind and a good teammate.”
Aaliya said the initial contact with Ohio State was made through his agent, who set up the first video call with Diebler. At that point, he was not eligible to play collegiately, and both sides began the process of securing that eligibility.
Doing so involved “a lot of things,” Aaliya said.
During the 2024-25 season, Aaliya played in his native Argentina for Atenas de Cordoba, averaging 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game. The next year, Aaliya was with UCAM Murcia in Spain’s top league and averaged 18.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game while missing some time with an injury.
“I had to show the NCAA my contract in Spain and then I had to show them that it was (playing under) the same contract when I went to Argentina,” he said. “I had to show them a lot of things to prove to them that of course I was on a professional team but I was not on a professional contract. That’s important to them to let me play here.”
When he tried to sign with Michigan, Aaliya said, the NCAA was going to hold him out for some games the next season after he had already missed several months of playing time. He wound up playing in Spain that year.
“In total, it would (have been) a year and a half without playing,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t finish that.”
When Ohio State opens the 2026-27 season in Salt Lake City against BYU on Nov. 2, Aaliya will be an active member of the roster. Although he was not with the team during the summer and was not announced as the 15th player until Aug. 21, he’s expected to compete for minutes at power forward and also be able to step into some small-ball center lineups.
“What I’ve been impressed with is just how quickly he’s blended in and gelled with the team,” Diebler said Sept. 21 before the team’s first official fall practice. “When you insert somebody (late), you never know fully how that’s going to go but it’s been great. He’s been acclimated well.”
If he had not been granted eligibility, Aaliya said he most likely would have remained in Spain this season. Spanish is his native language, and learning English has been a challenge but one he has worked at for several years.
Understanding it isn’t hard. Properly expressing himself is more of a challenge, one he will work on while in a locker room without any other Spanish-speaking players.
“Three years ago when I wanted to come to the NCAA, it was a hard process for me because I was pretty shy to speak another language,” he said. “When I had American players on my team I never spoke to them because I was ashamed of my accent, of, I don’t know, my other language, but I think it is a good thing that I can speak two languages. Now I’m trying to get more comfortable in the locker room or talking to the coaches and officials and everything.”
Ohio State will play a public exhibition against Cincinnati on Oct. 7 that will mark Aaliya’s unofficial program debut. When it comes time to show his skills, Aaliya said he has an idea what he hopes fans see from him.
“For sure they’re going to see energy,” he said. “They’re going to see athleticism. I want to bring my overseas experience to them, to help them out and help the team out. I think we have a great team to fight to March. That’s our goal, to be in March Madness. I think we have a great team to do it and to want it.”
With that, Aaliya offered a two-handed handshake, a few quick polite words of thanks and rushed into the weight room. This time of year, and with the start of the season looming, there’s arguably no player on Ohio State’s roster with less time to waste.
Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social, on Instagram at @cdadamjardyor on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State’s Lee Aaliya waited 3 years for this chance with the Buckeyes
