Now at Stephen F. Austin, Latrell Jossell returns to play Kansas Jayhawks basketball
Stephen F. Austin men’s basketball coach Kyle Keller says he just might move sophomore guard Latrell Jossell into the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against Jossell’s former school, Kansas.
Tipoff for the game between the Lumberjacks (8-3) and No. 7-ranked Jayhawks (8-1) is 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse with the game to be live streamed on ESPN+.
“He hasn’t started a game yet. There’s a good chance he could. He played really well last night,” Keller, KU’s video coordinator from 2008-09 to 2010-11, said of the 5-foot-11 Jossell, who hit 7 of 10 threes and scored 28 points in the Lumberjacks’ 82-69 loss to Louisiana Monroe on Tuesday night.
Jossell — he transferred from KU to Stephen F. Austin last spring after playing sparingly in his one season at KU — previously had scored in double digits off the bench in one other game. He had 12 points in SFA’s 83-71 loss to South Dakota State on Nov. 14.
“He is playing better. He tries hard every day. He has great spirit. He is fun to be around. He is all of the things coach (Bill) Self said he was,” Keller said of Jossell adding, “he’s not very big. He’s a small 2-guard is what he is.”
Jossell for the season averages 8.4 points a game. He’s made 29 of 70 shots for 41.4% and has cashed 23 of 53 threes for 43.4%. Jossell has eight total assists to 13 turnovers with 10 steals.
“I haven’t really spoken to him a lot about it (return to Lawrence). He’s excited about playing against some of his former teammates,” Keller said of Jossell in a Wednesday interview with The Star.
“He said our film session today (Wednesday after stunning home loss to Louisiana Monroe) was a lot like Coach Self’s film sessions, pretty long. He said we used a lot of the same terms, ran some of the same plays coach ran when I was at KU,” Keller added.
SFA has an opening in the starting lineup for a guard.
One of the WAC’s best players, senior guard Roti Ware, tore his ACL and MCL in a win over Liberty on Dec. 11.
“He’s playing well,” KU coach Self said of Jossell. “I know Kyle’s happy with him. I’m happy for him. Everybody liked Latrell. Nobody wanted him to leave. But it was in his best interests (for playing time). He’s got four years left. He’s healthy finally. He was never healthy here with his foot (heel injury from high school). He struggled all year health wise. After the season he had surgery. I’m really happy for him.”
Self says Jossell won’t be shy about shooting in the fieldhouse Saturday.
“He’s a 5-foot-9, ‘shooting from the Hawk (just past midcourt)‘ 2-guard. You’ll see that tomorrow, too,” Self said, noting Remy Martin, Dajuan Harris and/or Joseph Yesufu could spend some time defensively on Jossell.
A Chicago native who played high school basketball at Keller Central High in Fort Worth, Texas, Jossell played 28 total minutes in 11 games in 2020-21 for the 21-9 Jayhawks. For the entire season he took just 10 shots, making four. He had two assists and two turnovers.
Even though he played very little, Jossell told The Star on the day he announced his transfer that he enjoyed his year with the Jayhawks.
“It was amazing, one of the best years of my life,” Jossell said. “I made a connection with the coaches and the players. It was a great choice, a great experience.”
Of his minutes, he said: “It’s probably a mix of having people ahead of me and injury.”
Jossell said he ultimately made the decision to transfer after his postseason meeting with Self.
“That’s my man. My love for Coach Self is there for sure,” Jossell said. “He is honest, truthful, straight-up always. It’s why I came here (to KU). We met and talked about everything, how to look in the future, how next year could go. I thought about everything we talked about and thought it’d be best I go where I could play the most.”
Jossell told The Star he chose SFA over Wichita State and Southern Illinois.
“They (Lumberjacks) were recruiting me hard. Coach (Keller) broke a lot of things down for me and talked to me a lot. We built a relationship there,” Jossell said. Being close to home is a big part of it. It’s a school that has always beat the odds. I’m ready to do it with them, ready to show what I can do,” Jossell added.
Keller’s Stephen F. Austin team defeated then-No. 1-ranked Duke, 85-83, in overtime, on Nov. 28, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. In his six years, the Lumberjacks have also won at Baylor and LSU.
“Stop and think about it, what non Power Five or Power Six has had better road wins over the past three years than Stephen F?” Self said. “At LSU, at Duke at Baylor. Kyle has a good team again. They lost their last game. They had an injury and probably didn’t respond as well to that the last game. They are capable of coming in here and giving us problems like those others.”
