In Tounde Yessoufou, St. John's Adds Yet Another Superstar
The winds of change have blown through Queens this offseason, and their newest add might be their best yet.
When Rick Pitino met with the local press last week he ran down the roster and said he thought he had enough talent to win the Big East for the third year in a row. Still, he left the door open a crack when it came to filling his final roster spot — but this?
St. John’s made major waves overnight into Thursday when it was announced that Tounde Yessoufou, a star freshman at Baylor last season, was withdrawing his name from the NBA Draft and joining the Red Storm.
Put simply, this is massive news for St. John’s and the Big East.
In Yessoufou, Pitino adds a physical 6’5 wing who averaged 17.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game as a rookie at Baylor. A relentless competitor, he set Baylor’s freshman scoring record this past season and also came up just shy of V.J. Edgecombe’s steals record.
His season-high 37 points came in a duel with BYU’s freshman sensation A.J. Dybantsa — a game in which Dybantsa responded with 36 points of his own.
The 14th-ranked player in the class of 2025, according to 247 Sports (two spots below UConn’s Braylon Mullins and one ahead of Duke-to-UConn transfer Nik Khamenia), Yessoufou closed the season with 11 games of 20+ points, had a season-high 12 boards against Houston, dished out six assists versus Southern, and had ten games of 3+ steals (with a high of 6 coming against Utah).
Where Yessoufou Got His Looks
Yessoufou is a bit of an anomaly in today’s game in some regards. Sporting a 6’10 wingspan and terrific strength, he’s a strong driver whose 8.1 paint points per game, ranked in the 97th percentile in the country — 46% of his points came in the paint.
While not considered an outside shooter, his 3-point percentage jumped to 33% in Big 12 play (33-100), helping him finish 53-181 beyond the arc on the season (29%).
There are some encouraging jump shot numbers here, however. Yessoufou shot just 32% on catch-and-shoot opportunities, but hit at a 41% clip when left open, and made 38% off the dribble.
Where Yessoufou is different comes in his attempts from the mid-range, where 15% of his field goal attempts came from last year:
He also brings the ability to post smaller defenders. At Baylor, Yessoufou had nearly 60 post-up possessions (about 10% of his touches) and was efficient enough to rank in the 84th percentile in points per possession. He scored 3.3 second-chance points per game (99th percentile) and finished 16 and-1s.
On the defensive end of the floor is where things get a little interesting. From a wholesale perspective, Baylor wasn’t very good at generating stops this past season, evident by allowing 76.4 points per game (which ranked 251st nationally) and an Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Rating (AdjDE) of 105.8 points allowed per 100 possessions; 103rd in the country (which certainly isn’t a bad mark, especially given the Division I average this past year was 109.3 PA/100 Poss.).
However, given the fact that it was the worst defensive showing by a Scott Drew-led team in Waco since his second year at the helm (the Bears were 9-19 that season, for context), it helps explain why the team went 17-17 this year and missed out on the NCAA Tournament in a non-COVID year for the first time since 2017-18.
From an individual standpoint, Yessoufou was a plus for Baylor defensively. His two steals per game (and 67 total) each ranked third in the Big Twelve, while his 3.5% steal percentage ranked fourth in the conference and in the 92nd percentile of all Division I players.
Add to that the fact that he committed just 2.3 fouls per game in 32.6 minutes played on average (a number which equates to 2.9 fouls per forty minutes), and the makings of a disciplined defender are clear. To further break down Yessoufou’s defensive efficiency, consider the following, per CBB Analytics:
He maintained a “Personal Foul Efficiency Ratio” (the sum of a given player’s steals and blocks divided by their personal fouls) ratio of 1.04 — a number which ranked in the country’s 94th percentile, and
Had a blocks-to-personal foul ratio of 0.26 (21 rejections, 79 personals), which ranked in the 92nd percentile.
Those numbers must be music to Pitino’s ears. After all, the Red Storm have been elite defensively during his time manning the program, limiting opponents to under 100 points per 100 possessions in each of the last three seasons — including a second-place finish in AdjDE in 2024-25 (88 PA/ 100 Poss.), and 11th nationally in 2025-26 (93.9 PA/ 100 Poss.), allowing fewer than 70 points per game to opponents each season (65.8 in 2024-25; 29th in the country, and 69.6 last year, 67th overall).
The Fit at St. John’s
It’s tough to pinpoint where anyone will fit in at St. John’s this year given the complete roster overhaul which the program has experienced. However, Yessoufou has all the makings of a player who’s a likely lottery pick in the 2027 NBA Draft, and, financial implications aside, he’s found the perfect place to continue his collegiate career.
With the graduation of Oziyah Sellers coupled with the portal losses of Dylan Darling (Grand Canyon) and Joson Sanon (West Virginia), Pitino and the Red Storm had no choice but to rejuvenate the backcourt in Queens — doubly so when you consider the fact that the likes of Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, and Dillon Mitchell all served as de-facto big guards for the group last year.
Yessoufou’s five-star talent was on full display last year, and he models what Pitino often looks for in his pieces: a willing defender, physical rebounder, and efficient scorer. He and the returning Ian Jackson (a former five-star in his own right) should split a lion’s share of the two-guard duties next to incoming EuroLeague guard Quinn Ellis (Olimpia Milano), helping to form one of the most complete backcourts you’ll find in college basketball this upcoming season.
A Look at the Film
In each of these transfer portal deep cuts, we’ll show 3-4 minutes of unfiltered possessions from late in the season to give our readers an honest look at the Big East’s newcomer.
In these clips from late in the season you’ll see his awesome transition ability, some post work, and a bit of his mid-range game:
The Final Word
St. John’s has done it again. After assembling a new roster which features a steady blend of returning talent (Ian Jackson, Lefteris Liouthopolous, Reuben Prey), domestic transfer portal acquisitions (Yessoufou, Mercer’s Kyle Cuffe Jr., Avery Brown from Columbia, and Donnie Freeman, formerly of Syracuse) as well as a number of international adds (the aforementioned Ellis as well as Babacar Sane, Lazar Stojkovic, and Djordije Jovanovic), and a fast-rising high school recruit in four-star center Theo Edema (Cushing Academy- Ashburnham, Massachusetts), Pitino and company have just one scholarship to fill.
It also reflects where the Red Storm — back-to-back Big East regular and postseason champs — stand in relation to today’s day and age of player contracts. Saint John’s has had money to burn this offseason; prominent boosters doled out a reported $4.8 million to procure Ellis’ services, while Adam Zagoria of the New York Times Sports reported on Thursday night that Yessoufou’s NIL deal was in the range of $6 million. In a college basketball world where low seven figures seems to be the asking price for most players, you can bet that the rest of the roster was also compensated accordingly.
And so, for a St. John’s team which has amassed an overall record of 61-12 and has gone 36-4 in Big East play over the last two years, the addition of Tounde Yessoufou — a true First Team All-Big East candidate next year — caps off an exceptional offseason. The Red Storm were picked 5th in the Associated Press’ Preseason Poll ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, and don’t at all be surprised if you see them up near the top again.
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