Justinian Jessup

Justinian Jessup was born May 23, 1998 in Longmont, Colorado, near Boulder. After a few elementary school years in Boise, Idaho, Jessup returned to his hometown to attend Longmont High School, where he lettered for four years. In his junior season, he led the basketball team in every key statistic when he averaged 17.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.2 steals per contest. He also led Longmont to the state title game. As a junior, he was named the 2015 Colorado 4A Player of the Year, Northern League Athlete of the Year, and was selected to the all-state first team. After his senior season, he was the number eight high school prospect in Colorado. The shooting guard decide to play college ball at Boise State, which he attended from 2016 to 2020. After his senior season at Boise State, he was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team. In August of 2020, Jessup signed a "Next Stars" contract with the Hawks of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL), while maintaining his eligibility for the 2020 NBA Draft. Upon arriving in Boise, Jessup was instantly part of the Broncos' rotation, and he went on to start 31 of 32 games as a freshman. With 20 points in a win over Presbyterian, Jessup became just the 11th freshman in program history to record a 20-point game. Jessup finished his freshman season with averages of 7.4 points and 2.8 rebounds in 23.6 minutes per game. As a sophomore, he upped his production to 11.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He emerged as Boise State's leading scorer as a junior, putting up 14.0 points, while adding 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He was named to the All-Mountain West Third Team, despite battling knee pain for much of the season. As a senior, Jessup had his best statistical season, posting a career-high 16.0 points per game and shooting 39.7 percent from three and 95.9 percent from the free throw line. In early February, Jessup broke the MWC record for career three-pointers, passing BYU legend Jimmer Freddette's mark of 296. Jessup earned All-Mountain West Second Team honors.