Joe Yesufu was on the treadmill when he got the call.
The transfer guard didn’t plan on entering his name into the transfer portal for the fourth time, but after his head coach at Washington State Kyle Smith departed in March he felt it was in his best interest.
And it was a familiar voice on the other end of the line once he entered his name into the database. Darian DeVries, who has just taken the job at West Virginia, made the call. The two had a history considering that Yesufu played under him for two seasons prior to moving to Kansas.
It wasn’t a call that Yesufu was expecting but DeVries made it clear that he was interested in reuniting in Morgantown and it didn’t take long for him to take him up on the opportunity.
“I didn’t want to leave again. I didn’t want to transfer again but looking back on it it’s a blessing in disguise. I feel like everything happens for a reason I’m supposed to be here. Supposed to be playing for DeVries again and I came here to win so that’s my ultimate goal,” he said.
Yesufu had the most productive season of his college career as a sophomore under DeVries when he was named the Missouri Valley Conference Sixth Man of the Year after averaging 12.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
He also shot 44-percent and a career-high 38-percent from three while playing 23 minutes per game. It was a standout campaign all the way around and came after a freshman season where he was limited to just 13 games due to injury. That would be his final season at Drake before he left for Kansas.
He averaged 3.1 points per game over his 69 games as a Jayhawk but played just 11 minutes per game. Meanwhile, Yesufu was limited to just six games in his lone season at Washington State due to a hip injury but averaged 6.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
So adding an experienced guard into the mix who already understood what DeVries’ system required made a lot of sense for both parties. That made it an easy decision for Yesufu and what was old was suddenly new again with DeVries as his head coach.
“The reason I chose Coach DeVries again is because he’s a great coach. To be honest, he didn’t even have to accept me back because you know how men are but that just shows the type of person he is and the coach he is to accept me back and I’ll never forget about that,” Yesufu said.
The scheme is one that Yesufu refers to as free-flowing and one where players are simply able to play without thinking too much as long as they play within the framework of the offense. On the defensive end, it is about connectivity and effort in order to make it tough for opponents.
Yesufu is recovering from a hip injury that cost him all but a few games last year. It wasn’t something that occurred overnight, but more wear and tear over time. That has been a focus for him to get his body back in shape to handle the workload of being off for quite some time.
The decision to sit out last season was largely triggered by the fact that the injury was something he dealt with in the summer and then he popped back up again early in the season.
“I love basketball, that's my true love so I talked to a lot of people and they helped me realize if I can’t give 100-percent on the court at the time it’s best to save that year,” he said.
That time away from the court also gave him some perspective on what’s important in his life. That has resulted in a dedication to his faith during his longest time away from the game.
“It just feels like a piece of you has been taken away because I felt like my identity was basketball but I realized throughout that process that my identity isn’t basketball,” he said.
On the floor, Yesufu is able to score the ball in a variety of ways whether that’s shooting it or getting to the rim. But he excels on defense where he is able to provide constant ball pressure.
“My biggest pet peeve is to get scored on,” he said.
Now for his final act, Yesufu is excited to close it with a coach that he is very comfortable with both on and off the floor.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
