West Virginia has two players coming back from off-season issues that limited them during the off-season and head coach Darian DeVries provided the latest on each as preseason practice is underway.
Senior guard Joseph Yesufu transferred to West Virginia from Washington State where he was limited to just six games due to a hip injury. During that time, Yesufu averaged 6.2 points and 1.8 assists and had a history with DeVries considering he was originally at Drake.
During his sophomore season with the Bulldogs, Yesufu had his best season of his career averaging 12.8 points and 1.8 assists. He then transferred to Kansas where he spent two seasons before moving on to play for the Cougars.
Yesufu missed all of the off-season due to the injury but has since been cleared and has been at full speed in practice although he is still adjusting to being back on the floor.
“He’s been out eight months so he’s still working his way back even though he’s been back a few weeks so that process has been open-ended on how long it will take for him to be back to 100-percent,” DeVries said. “But he is out there.”
One thing that helps Yesufu is the fact that he already understands the concepts and terminology from his time previously with DeVries, so it has allowed him to catch up quicker than some of the other newcomers.
“Every coaching staff has different things they love and don’t love as much and he understands what those are,” he said. “I think he’s doing some good things.”
Another player returning from missing time during the off-season is guard Tucker DeVries and while he has been cleared since the summer from off-season shoulder surgery, the coaching staff is being smart with him while letting him play.
One of the centerpieces to the roster, DeVries is coming off back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors and averaged 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game last season.
As part of that, the coaches are limiting some of his reps in rebounding drills and being careful with him.
“You have to be smart with it like everybody coming off an injury and being calculated with some of the frills you have them to and don’t,” he said.
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