The passion is evident in Nia Jackson’s play. Evident in every burst, every cut, every Dwyane Wade-esque absorption of contact for and-one layups.
After playing just 17 of a possible 61 games in the first two seasons of her collegiate career, the redshirt sophomore guard is enjoying every moment of Oregon’s success this season.
“This is kind of like my first year in college basketball, like my freshman year,” Jackson said. “I’m loving it.”
First-year head coach Paul Westhead and the women’s basketball team love it, too. Jackson has been a welcome revelation for the Ducks (13-8, 4-5 Pacific-10 Conference) in a season of major changes, starting in all 21 games at the point guard position. The Seattle native is one of five players averaging double-figures in points (10.3 per game) while bringing the ball up the floor in Westhead’s fast-break offense with aplomb.
“She has that burst of energy right when she catches the ball; she’s very explosive,” guard Taylor Lilley said. “Every game, I feel like she’s getting it more and more. She’s pushing the ball, and that’s what we need.”
Physically imposing for a guard — if lacking in ideal height at 5 feet 7 inches — with quick feet and agility, Jackson has been a model of efficiency. Her 48.7 percent shooting from the field on the season is the seventh-best mark in the Pac-10; her 3.67 assists per game is the fourth-best conference mark. An assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.43 puts her in company with the Pac-10’s elite guards — Stanford’s J.J. Hones and Jeanette Pohlen, Lilley and USC’s Briana Gilbreath.
“Just with her handling the ball, I feel very confident with her and with the ball in her hands. I know that she’s going to do … I trust in her decision-making,” Lilley said. “I mean, I know she’s going to blow past pretty much anyone, I think, in the Pac-10, and that just creates more options for us, or dishing it off to the inside posts.”
As Jackson continues to help light up the scoreboards for the nation’s highest-scoring team, she wears a reminder of her past setbacks — a brace on her left knee, helping to stabilize the healing anterior cruciate ligament within it.
“It protects me,” she said. “I feel like I wouldn’t be able to play basketball without it, to be honest, because it really does help. It’s fine. It’s just a little heavy.”
A left ACL sprain, coupled with a right quadriceps strain, cost Jackson the final 13 games of her freshman season. She entered the 2008-09 season fully healthy and ready to challenge for significant playing time when the team left on a 10-day exhibition tour of Italy before the beginning of fall term. In an exhibition game against an Italian professional team, Jackson tore her left ACL, costing her the entire season.
As she watched from the sidelines, the Ducks stumbled through the worst season in school history (9-21 overall), with multiple injuries to critical players. Head coach Bev Smith was dismissed after the season, and Westhead was hired shortly after.
Smith’s methodical, slower-paced offense came in direct contrast to Westhead’s high-octane style, and Jackson was continuing rehabilitation of her knee to get ready for the season. The new coaching staff believed in her abilities as a contributor — once she shook off the rust.
“I’m very proud of Nia,” assistant coach Kai Felton said. “We’re impressed with what she’s done in the spring. It was a situation where we said we need you, you can play, but you have to come ready.”
Her grasp of Westhead’s system and her improved conditioning proved her readiness.
“Mentally, there were some hard times with conditioning and whatnot, but now she’s pushed through that,” Lilley said. “She’s been able to get through some hard workouts, and I think she’s showing that right now.”
Jackson admits she has not completely recovered from the ACL tear. Oregon’s early-season win against Boise State produced a harrowing moment in which a Broncos player landed on Jackson’s left knee, but she walked it off without any ill effects.
“I’m still able to do what everybody else is doing, but it still kind of has these little pains and aches and all of that,” she said. “I’m still working on rehabbing it, getting it stronger and trying to work on my range of motion and cutting on the court and stopping quickly.
“It’ll come along. It just takes time.”
That’s hard to believe, considering some of her recent performances.
Take Oregon’s 100-80 loss against Stanford on January 23, Jackson’s breakout game. She knifed through the Cardinal defense for 26 points, and her physicality in the paint rewarded with 15 free throw attempts (she made eight) and four rebounds. Jackson also pestered Stanford in the back court with Westhead’s full-court press defense, stealing the ball three times and providing uncredited assists on many more.
“She’s a gamer,” Westhead said after the game. “She likes to play games that have a lot of pop and excitement. She likes to turn on the jets.”
The Ducks are looking forward this week to the second half of Pac-10 play, with five of the nine games at home. Jackson’s sophomore season may be better still.
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