{"id":746019,"date":"2026-05-28T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/746019\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T08:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:00:21","slug":"st-johns-lands-talented-transfer-tounde-yessoufou-in-major-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/746019\/","title":{"rendered":"St. John’s lands talented transfer Tounde Yessoufou in major coup"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are two basketball fan bases in celebration mode in New York City now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Knicks and, after late Wednesday night, St. John\u2019s has joined them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rick Pitino and the Johnnies scored a major recruiting coup, stealthily landing explosive Baylor wing Tounde Yessoufou, a source confirmed. It\u2019s an addition that should make them a Final Four contender next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-5 Yessoufou was a standout as a freshman in the Big 12 and was expected to stay in the NBA Draft as a likely late first-round pick. <\/p>\n

But he opted to return to school right before the midnight deadline and spend his sophomore year in Queens.<\/p>\n

\"ToundeTounde Yessoufou reacts to a call in the second half of Baylor\u2019s win over Minnesota in a first-round game of the College Basketball Crown tournament at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 1, 2026 in Las Vegas. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Yessoufou will create a blockbuster backcourt alongside returning guard Ian Jackson and EuroLeague point guard Quinn Ellis<\/a>. As a freshman, he averaged 17.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.6 assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A gifted athlete, Yessoufou should fit St. John\u2019s uptempo style well. He is an explosive finisher who excels in transition and is well-rounded, which Pitino values in his guards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the NBA Draft Combine, Yessoufou had the eighth-highest no-step vertical and was fifth in the shuttle run. He was also 18th in the maximum vertical leap.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ToundeTounde Yessoufou shoots the ball during the 2026 NBA Draft
Combine on May 11, 2026 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cTounde Yessoufou is a Big East Player of the Year candidate. And he\u2019s tailor-made for Rick Pitino,\u201d CBS sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein said. \u201cA big, strong physical wing with toughness, Yessoufou should fit in seamlessly alongside Euro import Quinn Ellis and Ian Jackson on the perimeter. St. John\u2019s still has some unproven commodities, but the addition of Yessoufou gives this program the jolt that it needed from a talent perspective. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith Pitino pulling the strings, this looks like a Top 10-15 team on paper.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For weeks, St. John\u2019s has been looking to complete its roster with another impact player. The Johnnies had been linked to Iowa State sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic, but all along, they had prioritized Yessoufou, and Wednesday night, they landed the difference-maker they had sought.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYour weekly dispatch from the No. 1 source on the Johnnies\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside St. John’s by Zach Braziller, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Earlier in the night, Pitino posted a photo of himself and his coaching staff at Rao\u2019s and wrote: \u201cCelebrating our Big East championship with my guys that worked their tails off.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With this latest addition, another league crown seems realistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are two basketball fan bases in celebration mode in New York City now.\u00a0 The Knicks and, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,2399,217,8042,1284,66,218],"class_list":["post-746019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-baylor-bears","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-basketball-transfer-portal","tag-rick-pitino","tag-sports","tag-st-johns-red-storm"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116651152377280594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}