UCLA Bruins Continue To Lose Out on Key Transfers
In what has become a worrisome trend for the UCLA Bruins this offseason, another one of their transfer portal targets has snubbed them. This time it's Tounde Yessoufou.
The 6-foot-5 guard from Benin was a star for Baylor as a freshman last season, averaging 17.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while shooting 46 percent from the floor, and 2.0 steals per game on the defensive end. After the season, he entered the transfer portal while also keeping his name in the NBA Draft.
Yessoufou Snubs UCLA
A hyper-energetic two-way guard, Yessoufou waited until the very last minute to decide which direction he was taking his basketball career. Ultimately, he decided to come back to college; his destination isn't quite where UCLA fans hoped he would end up.
Despite holding interest from UCLA, Yessoufou decided to transfer to St. John's. He now joins a long list of UCLA targets that have ultimately snubbed the Bruins this offseason, a worrisome sign that Mick Cronin and his staff are unable to recruit at the levels necessary to be competitive.
UCLA's Portal Misses
Most notably, Yessoufou joins two other marquee transfers that ended up signing elsewhere despite being heavily involved with UCLA. Those two players are John Blackwell and Matt Able.
Blackwell drew interest from UCLA after a very strong season with Wisconsin, during which he averaged over 19 points per game. Blackwell also kept his name in the NBA Draft until earlier this week, when he withdrew. Despite visiting UCLA earlier in the offseason, Blackwell decided to transfer to Duke.
As for Able, he also kept his name in the NBA Draft before recently withdrawing. Last season as a freshman at NC State, he averaged 8.8 points per game and shot over 35 percent from three-point range. At the NBA Draft Combine, he was very impressive, averaging over 16 points and knocking down 7 of his 16 threes across two scrimmages. Like Blackwell, UCLA was heavily involved with Able, but he chose the North Carolina Tar Heels instead of coming to Westwood.
The Bruins have signed transfers such as Filip Jovic and Sergej Macura to the team for next season, but they've been unable to land that big fish as they've done in the past. Next season will now be extremely pivotal for the Bruins as they try to navigate what is becoming a very challenging offseason for Mick Cronin and his staff.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/ucla as UCLA Bruins Continue To Lose Out on Key Transfers.
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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 7:00 AM.