USCs Wesley Yates discovered family bond and | College News

INDIANAPOLIS — It was simply a run-of-the-mill recruiting call. At least, that’s what Quincy Pondexter thought.

Pondexter had been an assistant at his alma mater, Washington, for under a few months. He’d by no means spoken to Wesley Yates III however was acquainted enough with the guard from Beaumont, Texas, to cold call him in 2021 to offer a scholarship.

The extraordinary half got here 5 minutes after they hung up, when Yates’ father referred to as back.

“Wait,” he mentioned, “what’s your name again?”

“So I told him,” Pondexter says. “And then he tells me, ‘You’re our cousin.’

“And I said, ‘Wait. What?’”

Retelling the story nearly 4 years later, Pondexter nonetheless can’t imagine it. But that day he referred to as his sister, who stored in contact with prolonged family in Texas, to substantiate. It was true, she advised him — their moms shared the identical final identify: Gooch.

The realization modified the course of their lives, as Yates adopted his cousin first to Washington and then to USC, the place the redshirt freshman has emerged as a budding star for the Trojans, who will face Rutgers within the opening spherical of the Big Ten match Wednesday.

“He’s really good right now,” USC coach Eric Musselman mentioned final month. “You can only imagine what he can do next year.”

Pondexter has performed a main half in that progress, because the cousins principally have been inseparable since that call. So a lot in order that when USC didn’t have a scholarship to offer Yates final summer time, he selected to stroll on with the Trojans as a substitute of transferring elsewhere. Pondexter was the rationale.

“He’s been more than a cousin,” Pondexter mentioned, “he’s been a little brother to me.”

Their bond started with brutal honesty. After Pondexter flew to Texas to watch one of his video games, Yates requested for his ideas.

Since he was family, Pondexter didn’t maintain back together with his evaluation.

“I told him that he couldn’t shoot,” Pondexter mentioned.

He wasn’t going to lavish his cousin with reward like different coaches may. Yates’ kind needed work. He’d fallen into dangerous habits together with his mechanics. His elbows had been up in entrance of his eyes. His capturing movement wasn’t fluid. He had a tendency to push the ball.

The questionable jumper was holding him back, Pondexter advised him. The honesty was refreshing to Yates.

“He knew he could trust me from that moment on,” mentioned Pondexter, who performed seven seasons within the NBA.

He by no means tried to recruit him to Washington. He simply needed to be a sounding board for Yates via the method, to speak like family would. Yet when he sensed Yates was dragging his ft on a faculty determination, Pondexter lastly requested him if he needed to return to Washington.

He dedicated straight away.

Yates injured a foot quickly after arriving in Seattle, although, delaying his development. By the time his foot healed, more than a yr later, Washington’s workers had been changed, and Pondexter had been let go.

Yates agreed to return to Washington underneath new coach Danny Sprinkle. But after a few weeks Yates modified his thoughts. It didn’t really feel proper with out Pondexter. He entered the switch portal in April.

The downside was his cousin had but to search out a new job. And when he did get a job, becoming a member of late to Musselman’s workers at USC, the Trojans already had raided the switch portal and used up their scholarships.

USC guard Wesley Yates makes a layup during a recreation in opposition to UCLA on Saturday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Yates got here to USC on an unofficial go to anyway. Pondexter requested the place his head was.

“And he said, ‘You know what I want to do,’” Pondexter recalled. “‘I want to come here.’”

Yet the one method USC might make it work was if Yates walked on. He handed up more profitable identify, image and license packages elsewhere, all with none guarantee he would match into Musselman’s roster plans.

He nonetheless got here. “He’s the best walk-on in America,” Pondexter declares.

It took time for that to develop into clear. Yates’ foot harm sophisticated issues, leaving him unable to apply till September. His shot was nonetheless a work in progress.

“Coach probably didn’t think he was going to be able to use him,” Pondexter mentioned. “I kept telling him to trust us.”

When Terrance Williams and Matt Knowling, two key contributors, had been injured in December, Musselman challenged somebody to step up and fill the void, understanding USC’s season would unravel in any other case.

Yates at that time was deep in a droop — he hadn’t made a shot in three video games.

But “Wes took the challenge,” level guard Desmond Claude mentioned. And Yates has been been one of the best guards within the Big Ten since then, averaging 16.5 factors per recreation.

He’s added a new ingredient to his recreation within the meantime, knocking down nearly 46% of his 92 three-point makes an attempt since becoming a member of USC’s beginning lineup. That fee, over a full season, would rank best within the Big Ten.

His evolution, Musselman mentioned final month, “changed our season, to be honest with you.”

It’s a testomony to how far Yates has are available his work with Pondexter. The cousins have even larger targets for subsequent season, when Yates will return as one of these most buzzed-about guards within the convention.

“By next year,” Pondexter says, “he’ll be the best shooter in the country.”

There’s no query in Yates’ thoughts, both, that he’ll be back at USC, even after the disappointing end to this season. Yates mentioned not too long ago that he’s “locked in” with Musselman, who referred to as Yates “a big piece of what we’re trying to do.”

“I can’t thank him enough for letting me be me,” Yates mentioned.

Other faculties probably will attempt to lure him away from USC after the Trojans completed under .500 for simply the third time within the final decade. But he has no intention of abandoning his cousin, who prefers to call Yates his “long-lost brother.”

If all goes nicely, Pondexter reminds, they gained’t have a lot time collectively after subsequent season.

“I care more about him and his career than I probably cared about mine,” Pondexter mentioned. “And I know that the NBA is not far away.”