Former St. Joseph basketball teammates Tounde Yessoufou and Will Kuyendall have been re-united at Baylor.

Kuykendall graduated two years ahead of Yessoufou, and they were both part of the 2023 St. Joseph team that won CIF Central Section Division 1 and Northern Regional championships before losing to Studio City Harvard-Westlake in the CIF Open Division state championship game.

Yessoufou graduated from St. Joseph as the all-time scoring leader in state history. He was a five-star recruit, and his signing with Baylor drew national media coverage. Kuykendall, meanwhile, came to Baylor from the transfer portal after two years at Arizona.

“Baylor reached out to me after I hit the portal,” said Kuykendall. “Tounde knew they were still recruiting guys for this year, and he forwarded them my film. After they saw the film, they reached out the same day with a full ride (scholarship).”

Kuykendall averaged 5.6 points and 2.7 steals a game for the 2023 St. Joseph team that won the Central Section Division 1 title. He red-shirted for a year at Arizona then played briefly in three games there.

Kuykendall was part of the Baylor basketball team that competed as Team USA in the 2025 World University Games in Germany and won a silver medal.

“Will is someone that has been around a lot of high level basketball and knows the importance of completing hard every day,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said in a Baylor news release.

“Dating back to his high school days, he has won a lot of basketball games,” said Drew. “He is going to be a great teammate and someone that will make us better by how he brings it every day to the gym.”

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Kuykendall said, “The summer after I graduated, me and Tounde have been in close contact. He actually moved in with my parents soon after I moved out. My parents became empty nesters for about two weeks, and then Tounde needed a place to stay and it worked out perfectly.

“We have become a lot closer now. He’s like a little brother to me.”

Kuykendall said he will be a shooting guard at Baylor, as he was at St. Joseph and Arizona.

“I want to be able to run the point if needed,” Kuykendall said.

“The Baylor system is kind of similar to Arizona and St. Joes, but it has its differences, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”

The Bears went out in the second round of the 2025 NCAA playoffs.

Kuykendall is a communications major. Â