Jessica Shepard, Nebraska's Freshman Star, Is Going to Be Big

Ask six-foot-four Nebraska freshman center Jessica Shepard, the best of the new class of bigs in women's college basketball, about playing in the post, and she'll give you an involuntary half-frown, followed by something between a shrug and a shake of the head. It's what she does when she doesn't make a play on the court. It's also a response at odds with how thoroughly she dominates in the post.

"I didn't really enjoy posting up," Shepard told me back in November. She grew up in a family of basketball players and coaches. Her older sister, Taylor, is six-foot-two and played at Division II Midland; so does her six-foot-eight older brother, Clayton. Her father, Mark, is six-foot-four, and her mother, Kim, was second-team All Nebraska as a high school player; her grandfather, Wes, won 519 games as a prep coach and is in the Nebraska High School Hall of Fame. Given that lineup, Jessica grew up playing a lot of point guard, both on club teams and in driveway family games. "I like to face up more," Shepard continued. "But this is what Nebraska needs."

That's Jessica Shepard all over, a player seemingly born and bred for the purpose of elevating Nebraska basketball beyond the consistent level it has reached under coach Connie Yori and up to women's basketball's elite. Shepard received a scholarship offer the summer after eighth grade, when she was already a star for the state's top AAU team; less than a full year into her Nebraska tenure, she is already fulfilling that destiny.

She played right in town at Lincoln Southeast, averaged 17.8 points and 9.1 rebounds as a freshman, even better as a sophomore. Her father took a job as superintendent in nearby Fremont, so she switched schools as a junior and put up 30.3 points per game. Shepard was well on her way to exceeding that as a senior when she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in December 2014.

Her high school career was over. Shepard's star power never dimmed, even as she rehabbed through the winter. The opposite happened, in fact—the player who'd become a fixture at University of Nebraska games, and was signing autographs there years before she'd even enrolled, turned into the collective concern of the community.

"Ever since I committed, I've had so much support from the Husker fans," Shepard said back in November. "It's kind of crazy, because Nebraska, it's not a huge state. Word gets around pretty quick. It's great to know you have all that support behind you. A lot of times, when I go to the mall, I won't even be thinking about it, and then I hear, 'Hey Jess, can I get a picture with you? Can you sign this for me?' And it's just crazy to me that people recognize me."

Back in November, the question in Shepard's mind wasn't whether she'd return from that knee injury. She'd been cleared to play just before Nebraska's season began, and had just finished her rehab work. Instead, it was about trying to get back into basketball shape, something she'd struggled with over the intervening months nursing her knee back to health.

"Coming back from my knee surgery, it's definitely been different," Shepard said at the time. "I'm not where I was, and had I not been injured, it would be totally different. My explosiveness isn't quite the same right now. Once I get into better shape, my finishing will be better." Better being relative here: Shepard put up a 24-point, 13-rebound, three-assist, three-steal game in her official opener, and scored more points in her first four games at Nebraska than any freshman had put up in their first six.

"Everybody knew that she was one of the better players and, to be honest, I think she even snuck up on a couple of people because she just kept getting better and better," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said at the time. "Then all of a sudden, wow, one of the best players in America is at Nebraska."

What makes Shepard so tough so soon is her versatility and size. She isn't just six-foot-four; she's a big, strong six-foot-four. Defenders swarm her in twos or threes—and usually bounce off of her. She utilizes her guard skills to finish left or right around the basket, and Nebraska has two highly skilled passing guards in Rachel Theriot and Natalie Romeo who do their best to find her. That duo have also feasted on open three-point looks that come from all the double teams sent toward Shepard down low: Nebraska's three-point shooting percentage has jumped from 30.4 percent last year to 38.5 percent so far this season.

The night before Thanksgiving, Shepard allowed herself a moment to consider it all. "I got to spend time with my family," Shepard recalled a few days later. "I'm always just thankful for what I'm blessed with. I was just laying in bed Wednesday night, thinking about everything that's been given to me—my abilities, and the opportunities that have been put in front of me."

Then she set about facing Breanna Stewart, the best player in women's college basketball. The challenge was an enormous one, with Stewart the rare defender who could guard Shepard without help. Throughout the second quarter, as Connecticut found their patented overdrive and largely ended the suspense, Shepard had to work harder than usual to find openings for her array of post moves. She was finding open shots by the second half but was also clearly exhausted; in a season-high 26 minutes, she'd scored just 10 points.

"Going against Breanna, you have to be so fundamentally sound, every move perfect, or she's going to block you," Shepard said after the loss. "Going against her shows you what you need to work on… My moves were getting me open shots. It was just legs, which goes back to conditioning. If I'm in shape, those shots are falling."

Two months later, Shepard was in better shape, and the shots were falling. By the time Nebraska arrived at the Rutgers Athletic Center, in Piscataway, in late January, she'd racked up seven Big Ten Freshman of the Week and two Big Ten Player of the Week honors, along with USBWA and ESPNW Player of the Week awards. En route, she put up games that served notice on just how dominant she can be: a 35-point, 20-rebound effort at Michigan; 29 and 19 against Illinois. Wisconsin triple-teamed her all night, so she dished out a career-best six assists, which was no isolated incident—her assist percentage of 15.9 percent is elite for a big already.

Shepard has become the focal point of the Nebraska offense in multiple ways—sometimes as the primary ball-handler in the half court, and other times as the author of quick outlet passes to Theriot and Romeo. At Rutgers, Shepard led all scorers at the break despite facing double teams throughout the first half. In the second, Rutgers made the decision to utilize Rachel Hollivay in single coverage against Shepard. Hollivay is among the best defenders in the country, seventh in the nation in block percentage and first all-time in blocks at Rutgers. Shepard struggled, headed to the sideline, spotted a seam—"When I got the and-one, I told the coaches I thought the left drive was open," she said later, "so they went back to that play and just let me do that"—and took over the game, blocking shots, slinging outlet passes, and converting around the rim.

Shepard played 36 minutes, scoring 23 points. This has become the norm for her, with Nebraska a bit on the thin side due to injuries up front. Since December 21, Shepard has played more than 30 minutes in 11 of 13 games, and at least 36 minutes in seven of those 13 games. Nebraska is at the periphery of the NCAA tournament field, but an ever-improving Shepard seems a good bet to help the Huskers get the wins they'll need to reach that mark.

And then? Shepard's lifelong goal of playing in the WNBA seems a pretty likely outcome if she does little more than stay healthy, but it's hard to say just yet how high her ceiling could climb. She plans to complement the ball-handling and post skills with a consistent jumper—out to 15 feet at first, and eventually beyond the three-point line. She's precisely the sort of talent to take advantage of the league's positionless direction, and is dedicated to becoming just that kind of player. It is safe to assume she'll be signing autographs and co-starring in an ever-increasing number of selfies while she figures all that out.

"I think Jess has only reached a small portion of her potential," Yori said. "She can be really, really good, and she's already playing at a very high level. But the really cool thing about where she can be is she's only tapped a little bit of her potential. She's so young in the game, as a freshman. We're asking a lot of her. In coaching, you ask more from those who can give you more." Yori doesn't know just how great Shepard might be—nobody does. The only certainty right now is that there's more to come.