A 2022 national champion returns to Allen Fieldhouse as Kansas faces West Virginia
A member of Kansas’ 2022 NCAA men’s basketball championship team, Joseph Yesufu, will return to Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday afternoon as a member of the opposition.
Yesufu, a well-traveled senior combo guard who played two seasons at Drake, two at KU and one at Washington State, is expected to come off the bench as a key reserve in West Virginia’s Big 12 opening contest against the Jayhawks.
Tipoff between the No. 7-ranked Jayhawks (9-2) and unranked (but receiving votes) Mountaineers (9-2) is 1 p.m., streaming on ESPN+.
“Well, we all love Joe. I think he’s terrific,” KU coach Bill Self said of the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Bolingbrook, Illinois native who for his final year of college basketball followed former Drake coach Darian DeVries from Yesufu’s most recent stop at WSU to Morgantown, West Virginia.
“Nobody wanted to see Joe leave. We understood why he did,” Self added of Yesufu having playing time concerns.
Yesufu appeared in 69 games in his two seasons with the Jayhawks with three starts. He averaged 4.1 points per game his second and final season at KU (2022-23) while shooting 37% from the field and 29% from 3.
Yesufu expected to start at Washington State. In fact he opened six games before suffering a serious hip injury that kept him out the rest of the 2023-24 season.
“Joe’s a handful if he gets hot. One of the games they played, he had, I want to say, 11 points in 2 1/2 minutes or something like that,” Self said. “He’s one of those guys. He gets cooking, he’s pretty effective and got a quick release and he’ll get a shot off. Now we’ve just got to be there and limit his good looks.”
Yesufu’s role has increased the past three games, since WVU sharpshooter guard Tucker DeVries has been sidelined by an undisclosed upper body injury.
Yesufu scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting (4-of-7 from 3) with five rebounds while playing 21 minutes in the Mountaineers’ 79-45 win over North Carolina Central on Dec. 10. He had seven points and four rebounds in a 67-46 win over Mercyhurst on Dec. 22 and three points in an 84-61 rout of Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 14.
Before DeVries was hurt, Yesufu did not play in a win over Georgetown and totaled just five minutes in three games at the Battle4Atlantis in Bahamas.
“Going through those things, I had to take it on the chin, “ Yesufu said of the lack of playing time to start the season at WVU. “I had to work harder. I know my teammates will pick me up. As long as I have that, I know I’m straight.”
For the year he averages 4.5 points and 1.9 rebounds per game with five total assists to seven turnovers and six steals. He’s made 8 of 22 3s for 36.4%.
“I’ve seen Joe do that many times before, “ first-year WVU coach Darian DeVries said of Yesufu scoring in bunches. He scored 11 points in a nine-minute stretch against N.C. Central.
”When he was a sophomore at Drake, he finished out the season averaging 25-plus points a night. He’s more than capable of having nights like that. As he’s continued to come back from his offseason injury and things, you can see him getting more comfortable. He’s certainly someone we have faith in and trust in to throw out there and do those types of things, because we’ve seen it before,” coach DeVries added.
With Tucker DeVries’ status unknown, Yesufu could be a vital factor in the Mountaineers staying afloat and ultimately earning an NCAA bid in coach DeVries’ first season in Morgantown.
“Everybody will be ready (for league season). It’s always about the next man up with these guys,” Yesufu told the Morgantown Dominion Post.
Of his own personal comeback from nagging injuries at KU and the hip injury at Washington State, Yesufu, who had a season-high 14 points in games against Texas, Tennessee and Texas Southern a year ago, said: “I’ve been through a lot the past year in recovering. Getting those shots to go in (vs. N.C. Central) really opened it up for me. I feel I’m on lock right now.”
Yesufu’s personal KU highlights included scoring a season-high nine points against Kansas State and grabbing four rebounds vs. West Virginia in the Big 12 tournament. He was a teammate of current Jayhawks KJ Adams, Dajuan Harris and Dillon Wilhite on the ‘22 NCAA title squad.
“I’ve moved around,” Yesufu acknowledged to the Dominion Post. “Not a lot of people get the opportunity to be in different places, but I look at that as being a great opportunity to connect with different people. I loved Kansas. It’s a great community. I had great teammates, great coaching staff.”
The key to his finishing strong is his health, he said. Yesufu went through a lot in terms of pain tolerance at WSU.
“I’m not going to lie, it was tough,” he told the Dominion Post. “I’ve never been away from basketball for that long. When I look back on it, I needed it. I had to take a step back and realize what’s really important, and that’s Jesus Christ. That’s how I look at it. The reason I chose coach DeVries again is he’s a great coach
“To be honest, he didn’t have to accept me back. That just shows the kind of person he is, the kind of coach he is. To accept me back, I’ll never forget that.”
And his coaches view?
“Joe is someone that brings valuable experience to our team,” DeVries said. “He has great familiarity and a comfort level with how we do things. He’s very explosive as a scorer and playmaker.”
