Kansas Jayhawk Joseph Yesufu trying to up his game: ‘I have to knock down every shot’
Joseph Yesufu returned to his hometown of Bolingbrook, Illinois for a few weeks after the 2021-22 University of Kansas school year ended in early May. He was intent on improving his game and body in a short period of time.
“I worked out (running) in the sand, ran the hills a lot just to keep me conditioned. I actually lost about 10 pounds,” said Yesufu, Kansas’ 6-foot, 170-pound fourth-year junior combo guard. “I spent a lot of time in my high school gym, more perfecting how I shoot,” added Yesufu, speaking Tuesday afternoon to the media at Bill Self’s basketball camp for youths at Allen Fieldhouse.
Yesufu — who was immediately eligible at KU last season after playing two seasons at Drake — expects a lot more from himself on offense than he delivered during KU’s 2022 national-title campaign.
He played in 34 of KU’s 40 games, averaging 2.1 points pergame with 34 total assists against 18 turnovers. Known as a scorer at Drake, he hit 27 of 80 shots his first year at KU for 33.8%. He made 11 of 42 threes for 26.2%.
In all, he averaged 9.2 minutes per game for the 34-6 Jayhawks.
“My shooting has to be knockdown,” Yesufu said Tuesday. “I have to knock down every shot. I have to be very dangerous from the arc, and also my passing. I feel my passing is good, but it can get better, making the right reads off screens, finding my bigs more and involving my teammates a lot more.”
He learned what is expected of him in his postseason exit meeting with KU coach Self.
“The decision making,” he said, “(and) I have to be able to score. I’m a great scorer. I was overthinking last year, but that’s not going to happen this upcoming year.”
There naturally was an adjustment period for Yesufu after he transferred from Drake where he averaged 12.8 points per game on 44.2% shooting his sophomore campaign. As a Bulldog, he made 48 of 125 threes for 38.4%.
“Basketball is meant to be fun. I felt like (things) getting in my head made it not fun,” Yesufu said. “I’ve got to enjoy the game that I started playing when I was 4. I felt like I wasn’t performing how I knew I could perform. I felt like I was regressing in my play. In reality it was just in my head. Basketball is a mental game, so I have to get past the mental part.
“It was an accumulation of things that happened in practice. I missed a shot or I turned it over. I let that linger in my head. Now it’s just go on to the next play. I am out of it now,” he added, referring to falling in a funk.
“My friends, parents, siblings helped me get through it and praying a lot.”
Yesufu is intent on helping KU’s younger players be free of the mental challenges he encountered last season.
“I don’t want people to go through what I went through last year,” Yesufu said. “When I see it’s constantly in their head, I will try to nip that in the bud right away. Just leading the team back to what we did last year, win the national championship, because I was part of it. I have experience as well. I know the system. I know how to maneuver now. It’s just up to me to be a leader now, using my experience to preach to other guys,” he noted.
Yesufu’s desire to improve on offense this season shouldn’t affect his defense, he said.
“I love defenders,” he said of players such as new KU transfer guard Kevin McCullar, who has been known for his defense the past three years at Texas Tech. “My focus was defending (last year), locking down opposing teams’ scorers.
“I can definitely score,” Yesufu quickly added, noting, “I’m very quick. I feel I didn’t show my athleticism last year. I am a big scorer. You guys didn’t see that from me because we had a bunch of scorers. We had O (Ochai Agbaji), C.B. (Christian Braun), Jalen (Wilson), Remy (Martin), all those guys that could score. My focus was defending.”
KU sophomore Zach Clemence said Yesufu has what it takes to excel on both ends.
“Joe is great. (He’s) fast, athletic, smart, so I mean, he’s going to be fun to watch this year,” Clemence said Tuesday at Self’s camp.
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 5:05 PM.
