On Sunday night, the West Virginia State basketball team added a new wing to a roster currently undergoing a rebuild under new coach Darian DeVries. And this latest addition is a familiar face to both DeVries and the Big 12 Conference.
On3 Sports learned on sunday Washington State University transfer guard Joseph Yesufu will join WVU's roster. Yesufu reunited with his former coach in DeVries when he spent two years at Drake to begin his college career.
Although he wasn't considered a high school prospect, he saw significant playing time before an injury derailed his freshman season at Drake University.he averaged As a sophomore for the Bulldogs, he averaged 12.8 points, 1.8 assists, and 1.8 rebounds per game and was named the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Six of the Year for his impressive play off the bench for most of the season. won the Mann Award.
He will earn the starting spot from DeVries for the final seven games of the season, including four postseason contests. In the final nine games of the season, Yesufu scored 23.2 points per game.
He joined DeVries' program before transferring to Kansas State and playing a small but important role with the Jayhawks, leading the program to a national championship in 2021-22. Yesufu appeared in 69 games over two seasons at Kansas, averaging 3.1 points in 11 minutes per game.
From there, he transferred to Washington State, where he intended to finish his career before an injury derailed his season after just six games. He earned a medical redshirt to maintain his season eligibility and was determined to enter the portal once again. He started six games and averaged 6.1 points per game.
on film, Yesufu is a strong spot shooter with a knack for establishing a rhythm from long range when the opportunity presents itself. He also has the ability to use dribble penetration to create scoring opportunities both at the rim and midrange.
Yesufu's biggest potential drawbacks are his durability and lack of game experience, which he has proven while playing a major roster role over the past three years. Two of Yesufu's five seasons in college have been interrupted by injuries.
Since his stellar sophomore season at Drake, Yesufu isn't expected to play the major role he's expected to play at WVU. His role at Kansas was minor and he didn't require the step up that might be needed in Morgantown, and he was scheduled to be a season-long starter at Washington State early in the campaign. It ended suddenly. His depth has been an issue, and even when he's called up as a starter, he's only started 16 of his 119 career games.
However, Washington State coach Kyle Smith spoke highly of Yesufu at Pac-12 Media Day last year, describing his ability to score from the perimeter as something the program “needed” and calling him Slam dunk champion Nate Robinson compared to NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas and multiple NBA player.
“He's an explosive combo (guard),” Smith said. Said. “Right now he's probably at a key point for us. But he can really guard the ball, he can really shoot and he can really move it in terms of scoring. ”
At the same media day event, Yesufu himself said he expected to play the best of his career heading into his final season — although a limited sample size of play last winter meant he was a player. We'll probably never know exactly what position he was in due to his injury.