West Virginia Mountaineers: Transfer 101: Joseph Yesufu
West Virginia filled a need on the basketball roster with both an experienced player and one that has connections to head coach Darian DeVries with the commitment of Washington State guard Joseph Yesufu.
Yesufu, 6-foot-0, 180-pounds, started his career at Drake where he played under DeVries for two seasons. During that time, he put together the best year of his career when he was named the Missouri Valley Conference Sixth Man of the Year after averaging 12.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
After that season Yesufu transferred to Kansas where he appeared in 69 games during his two years with the Jayhawks but saw his scoring dip to 2.1 points per game in his first year and 4.1 in the second. The Illinois native then entered the transfer portal again and ended up at Washington State.
During his lone season with the Cougars, the combo guard was limited to just six games due to a hip injury. However, he started each of those contests and averaged 6.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.0 steals, and 1.8 assists. He also shot 35-percent from three.
Yesufu took an official visit to West Virginia and given his previous ties to DeVries along with the need for the Mountaineers to get another quality option in the backcourt this move made sense for a lot of reasons.
Yesufu will have one year of eligibility remaining in his career.
West Virginia now has 10 scholarship players on the roster for next season.
WVSports.com breaks down the transfer of Yesufu and what it means to the West Virginia Mountaineers basketball program both now and in the future.
Fitting the program:
Yesufu is an experienced guard that has already played well in DeVries system when he was at Drake. The pairing is one that makes a lot of sense as he should be able to step in without any sort of adjustment and can provide help at the point guard spot next to what the program already has in the fold in Oklahoma State transfer Javon Small. The Mountaineers needed to find more help there and now have a pair of experienced options to go along with true freshman KJ Tenner at the one.
Yesufu played primarily point during his time with Drake but also has spent time at the two at Kansas, so he has the ability to move around if need be to get the best grouping on the floor.
Yesufu is explosive with the ball and has been a solid spot up shooter throughout his career. He has hit 40-percent of his shots and 32-percent from three point-range during his time playing college basketball. The experienced guard also is very effective finishing in transition, which is a strong match for West Virginia.
Yesufu makes good decisions in ball screen situations and has displayed the ability to finish with plus athleticism for his size.
He has played in a total of 119 games over the course of his career but started only 16 of those with 7 coming during his sophomore season at Drake and six last year at Washington State.
West Virginia needed to get a mature option in the backcourt and Yesufu is a strong match given the fact that he is a solid on-the-ball-defender and already understands the expectations set by DeVries. It doesn’t hurt matters that he played the best basketball of his career while with the Bulldogs.
DeVries past collides with his present in the latest addition to the Mountaineers roster.
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