in 2019 Barefield played
college basketball for the
SMU Mustangs before transferring to
Utah. At SMU, he only played in five games. Coach Brown assisted his transfer to Utah with a call to
Larry Krystkowiak, Utah's head coach. Barefield missed several of the first games of Utah's
2016–17 season due to transfer rules. In his debut, he scored 18 points. He then scored 35 points several days later in a loss to the
San Francisco Dons. In March, he helped Utah beat the
California Golden Bears with his 14 points. That season, Utah lost to California in the first round of the
Pac-12 tournament when he missed a three that could have sent the game to overtime. They also lost in the first round to the
Boise State Broncos in the
NIT. In his junior season debut, Barefield scored 22 points in a win over the
Prairie View A&M Panthers. He then contracted a stomach virus, causing him to miss the following game, yet Utah won by 40 over the
Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils without him. Later that season, he had 23 points in a loss to the
Arizona Wildcats. In a matchup against fellow Fil-Am point guard
Remy Martin of the
Arizona State Sun Devils, he had 21 points, but Martin's team took the victory. He then had a shooting slump and had to come off the bench after starting for majority of the season. He then had 14 points and three assists off the bench in a win over the
Washington State Cougars. In a rematch with Arizona State, he scored 17 points and hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left in regulation, helping Utah knock off the Sun Devils in overtime. The following game, a rematch with Arizona, he led Utah with 26 points, but they lost. That season, Utah made it all the way to the championship round of the
NIT, in which he scored 22 points with six threes, but they lost to the
Penn State Nittany Lions. Barefield declared for the 2018 NBA draft, and had worked out for the
Utah Jazz and
Los Angeles Lakers. However, he backed out and returned for one more season with Utah. He started that season with 18 points and nine assists in a win over the
Maine Black Bears. He started the Utes’ first nine games and then, after going 1 for 7 against the
Kentucky Wildcats, began coming off the bench. Three games later, he dropped 33 points on the
Nevada Wolf Pack off the bench and moved back in the lineup. Against Arizona State, he had a game-high 24 points. Against Arizona, he had 26 points, but fouled out, allowing Arizona to win in overtime. He matched his season high in points in a win over Washington State. He earned All-Pac-12 honors that season while also totaling 1,000 points in his college career. His college career ended with a loss to the
Oregon Ducks in the first round of the
Pac-12 tournament. As a senior at Utah, he averaged 16.8 points, 3.8 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game. ==Professional career==