‘He’s gonna open up a lot of eyes.’ Does Boise State’s best 3-point shooter have NBA future?
After missing his first six shots against UNLV on Feb. 26, Justinian Jessup scored all of his 19 team-leading points in the final 10 minutes, 13 seconds of the game.
Because even on an off day, the Boise State senior guard remains dangerous.
Maybe it’s a reflection of his steady, stoic demeanor, but Jessup has quietly surpassed some of the most heralded men’s basketball players in Boise State and Mountain West Conference history in many statistical categories. He most recently became the only player in program history to amass at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 250 assists, 150 steals and 50 blocked shots in his career.
The 6-foot-7 Longmont, Colorado, product will graduate from Boise State this spring with a degree in media arts, but he hopes he won’t be needing that degree anytime soon. His best basketball days could still be ahead of him.
“Jessup has terrific size for a wing and a high basketball IQ,” said NBA Draft analyst Matt Babcock of BabcockHoops.com. “However, what makes him most interesting as a prospect is his ability to shoot the ball — he is an elite shooter. I expect there to be significant correlation between Jessup’s outside shooting and how much career success he will achieve.”
Jessup could easily pursue a professional career overseas, but he might be able to carve out a role for himself in the NBA or G-League. While experts haven’t pegged him as a likely pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Jessup said he plans to hire an agent once his Boise State career is over.
“He’s an unbelievably good shooter with size, and being a left-handed guy, you’ve got an advantage right off the bat,” said college basketball TV analyst Dan Dickau, who was an All-American at Gonzaga and first-round NBA Draft pick.
“He’s got really deep range. He’s got the ability to come off screens and get his feet set and shoot 3s in that way. I also think he can put the ball on the deck a little bit in pick-and-roll plays and make the right read.”
As the most prolific 3-point shooter in Mountain West history with 320 triples and counting, Jessup’s long-range shooting ability is hard to ignore. But there’s another aspect of Jessup’s game that Boise State coach Leon Rice says stands out just as much.
“There’s a lot of words that come to mind. No. 1 is the consistency,” Rice said. “To have a guy that you can just pencil in your lineup card every night and you pretty much know what you’re going to get as far as effort, as far as knowing what we’re doing, as far as his mentality and his emotional state. It’s four years of consistency. … That’s pretty impressive.”
With 93 3-pointers this season, Jessup broke Abe Jackson’s program record of 92 set during the 2001-02 season, and he also owns three of the top four single-season 3-point marks in school history.
Jessup is Boise State’s eighth all-time leading scorer (1,554), ranks sixth in steals (153) and is approaching the top 10 for rebounds (522), assists (253) and blocks (60). His 119 career starts are the second-most in program history.
“The accolades are great, and I’m sure I’ll reflect on that once the season’s over, but just to top (my career) off, it’d be amazing to get to the (NCAA) tournament,” Jessup said. “… Just to put a stamp in the postseason somewhere along the line, I think that would be bigger than anything I’ll accomplish individually.”
Jessup’s collegiate career may be winding down, but his stock continues to rise. He has scored at least 15 points in each of the Broncos’ past 11 games. He enters Boise State’s Mountain West Tournament quarterfinal against UNLV on Thursday (3 p.m. MT, CBS Sports Network) ranked No. 10 in the country this season for 3-pointers made (93) and No. 15 for 3-point field goals per game (3.10). His 320 triples ranks him fifth among active career leaders in Division I.
“He will likely be invited to some workouts with teams leading up to the draft and have an opportunity to play in the NBA summer league in July,” Babcock said. “Despite being an unlikely draft pick, I would not count him out long term. An elite shooter with positional size and a high basketball IQ always has a chance.”
Added Dickau: “I honestly think if he can find the right summer league opportunity, he’s gonna open up a lot of eyes.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
