WVU Welcomes transfer guard Yesufu for 2024 season!

Mountaineer Paul,

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University’s men’s basketball team, under the leadership of Coach Darian DeVries, is excited to announce that Joseph Yesufu has joined the Mountaineers. Yesufu, a 6-foot, 180-pound guard from Bolingbrook, Illinois, will be playing for WVU as a fifth-year senior in the upcoming 2024-25 season.

Yesufu comes to WVU after a season at Washington State. Prior to that, he spent two seasons at Kansas and two seasons at Drake University, where he also played under Coach DeVries. Throughout his collegiate career, Yesufu has participated in 119 games, amassing 698 points, 153 rebounds, 127 assists, and 77 steals.

“Joe brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of our system,” remarked Coach DeVries. “His ability to score and create plays will be invaluable to our team.”

In his time at Washington State, Yesufu started in six games before a hip injury cut his season short. He managed to score a season-high of 15 points against Mississippi State, and averaged 6.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.0 steals, and 1.8 assists per game.

During the 2022-23 season at Kansas, Yesufu played in 35 games, starting three. He reached double figures in scoring four times, including two 14-point performances against Texas and consecutive 14-point games against Tennessee and Texas Southern. He also made a significant defensive impact with three steals in a game against Oklahoma State.

Yesufu’s first season at Kansas saw him scoring a season-high of nine points against Kansas State, and grabbing four rebounds against West Virginia in the Big 12 Championship. He appeared in 34 games during the 2021-22 season.

While at Drake, Yesufu was honored as the Missouri Valley Conference Sixth Man of the Year and earned spots on the MVC All-Bench and Most Improved teams. An MVC Scholar-Athlete, he also made the MVC All-Tournament Team. In that season, he averaged 12.8 points per game, with an impressive 23.2 points per game in the final nine games. Notably, he scored 36 points in a game against Evansville and made six assists against Chicago State. In the NCAA Tournament, he hit six 3-pointers in a game against USC. Yesufu had 10 games with more than 15 points.

As a freshman at Drake, Yesufu played in 13 games before a leg injury sidelined him. His standout performance that year was a game with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals against Simpson.

In high school at Bolingbrook, Yesufu was named the Herald News Boys Basketball Player of the Year, averaging 16.0 points per game as a senior and 14.0 points as a junior.

Yesufu is expected to be a crucial player off the bench and could start in certain matchups. He will primarily serve as the backup to Javon Small, the top-ranked point guard in the transfer portal.