E60: Aaliyah Gayles – Only The Strong Survive

As the No. 1 seeded USC women’s basketball team begins their tournament run, it is especially meaningful to guard Aaliyah Gayles, a redshirt freshman, because of her remarkable journey to this moment. On the evening of April 16, 2022, a night after playing in the Jordan Brand Classic, Aaliyah went to a party. She was shot 18 times, shattering bones and bursting a blood vessel. She couldn’t put weight on her legs. She couldn’t grip a pencil to write. But one lesson Aaliyah Gayles learned in life is this: A life without basketball isn’t really living. Yet Aaliyah was resolute; she spent over a year re-learning how to walk and how to regain her strength, all while working towards her lifelong dream of playing college basketball.

✔️ Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV