Former Kansas Jayhawks basketball guard Joseph Yesufu, who only played in six games for Washington State last season, has decided to re-enter the NCAA transfer portal.
Yesufu, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound native of Bolingbrook, Illinois, spent last season with the Cougars after spending two seasons at KU and two at Drake. His 2023-24 season ended early because of a hip injury.
Yesufu, 23, played and started in six games for the Cougars, averaging 6.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game with 11 total assists and six turnovers.
In the six games he played for Washington State, he averaged 25.4 minutes per game. With Yesufu on the court, the team went 9-2.
Yesufu shot 36.8%, including 8 of 23 three-pointers (34.8%). In 36 minutes against Mississippi State, he had a season-high 15 points, five assists and two rebounds.
Washington went 25-10 and defeated Yesufu’s former school, Drake, in the round of 64 of the NCAA tournament. Iowa State eliminated the Cougars in the round of 32.
The coach who recruited Yesufu to Washington State, Kyle Smith, is now the head coach at Stanford. Yesufu is the sixth player from WSU’s 2023-24 team to enter the portal. As of Monday evening, the school had not yet hired a coach.
Former WSU coach Smith said this about Yesufu just before the start of the 2023-24 season: “He’s an explosive combo (guard). Right now he’s probably going to be at the top for us. But he can really defend the ball, he can really shoot and he can really score. But we’re going to need his elite shots. Looks a little bit like those UW guards from back in the day, the Isaiah (Thomas) guy, Nate Robinson. He’s a small, strong, explosive guy who can score baskets.”
At KU, Yesufu averaged 4.1 points in 12.6 minutes per game in 2022-23. He played on KU’s NCAA title team in 2022, averaging 2.1 points in 9.2 minutes per game in 34 appearances.
While at Drake, Yesufu averaged 12.8 points per game as a sophomore and 3.8 points per game as a freshman. Before heading to college, he earned honorable mention Illinois All-State honors at Bolingbrook High and was named the Herald News Basketball Player of the Year, averaging 16.0 points.
Three other former Jayhawks have recently announced plans to enter the portal. The three are: Bobby Pettiford, who left KU for East Carolina; Issac McBride, who left KU for Vanderbilt and then Oral Roberts; and Marcus Adams, who left KU’s program last summer and went to BYU.
The three have not yet announced their new transfer targets.
