As Jalen Jackson was running the show in Butler’s opener against Southern Indiana, Nevaeh Jackson was in the stands at Hinkle Fieldhouse embodying the definition of a jumbotron magnet. When the air guitar prompting from the public address announcer came, it was Butler women’s basketball player’s time to shine.
In the hour prior to her run in with stardom, the redshirt sophomore guard had sat in the Butler family section with her sister Saniyah Jackson filming the starting lineups–in which her brother was included in–and cheering as their brother played his first game as a power-five basketball player. It was a familiar posture for the pair of sisters that have supported their brother’s career as long as they can remember, but it had been too long since it had been like this. Nowadays, the sisters can walk to Jackson’s games from their on-campus apartments while all Jackson needs to do is make the five-minute drive from his off-campus place in order to see them.
“It’s something that we always wanted to do, we just didn’t have the opportunity until now,” Jackson told Basket Under Review. “It’s definitely a blessing to be able to see them and watch a lot of their games since I didn’t get to go to a lot of them last year and the year before, so it’s just cool to be around them and get to see their growth.”
For the past two seasons, the drive that the pair of sisters had to take to see their brother play at Purdue Fort Wayne was two hours from their on-campus living at Valparaiso and their schedules as college basketball players made the trips especially difficult to make. The siblings would always be connected, but they were living separate basketball journeys.
Saniyah was among Valparaiso’s go-to scorers and was tasked with generating offense while Nevaeh was in the midst of working to return to the court after an injury caused her to miss the entirety of the season. Their older brother was in the midst of a season at Purdue Fort Wayne that would make him a commodity in the transfer portal a few months later.
Jackson eventually opted to continue his career at Butler due to the opportunity it provided to play at the power-five level and to move back to point guard–which he considers his natural position. While Jackson was on his visit, Butler women’s basketball coach Austin Parkinson asked him about his sisters and what they planned to do after Valparaiso fired their head coach Mary Evans.
Once Jackson committed to Butler, his sisters received a flurry of attention from the women’s basketball staff and ultimately visited with their then-committed brother in the days following. Those involved insist that the decisions to join the respective Butler programs weren’t inherently connected and had more to do with the basketball programs themselves, but the prospect of sibling connection beyond just Christmas and short windows in the summers was appealing.
“We had no idea this would happen,” Neveah told Basket Under Review. “It seems surreal.”
Perhaps the moments in which the brother and sisters reap the benefits of their mutual decisions are the mundane moments that didn’t exist for their family over the past three years. Moments like the three siblings heading to Binkley’s Kitchen and Bar–which is among Jackson’s favorite places, Jackson’s sisters spending time with his dog and taking things from his apartment to use for their Halloween costumes indicate that all is right in the world.
Jackson driving to the practice facility at Hinkle Fieldhouse in order to workout with his sisters reminds everyone involved of old times in their hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the now Butler guard would stay after his workouts to coach them. Jackson and his sisters never play one-on-one anymore because Saniyah and Nevaeh say he’s “too strong now” for them to compete, but his intensity is still palpable on the floor.
The sisters–who are two of Butler women’s basketball’s three leading scorers–consistently hear it from Jackson in regard to their ballhandling, finishing, making moves to the basket and using their bodies to help them in the lane. The Butler guard says he doesn’t yell, but will make his sisters redo certain drills until they get them right–which also applies to his work with his youngest sister Swynn Jackson, who plays at IU Indy.
Jackson says he’s “very interested” in taking after his mother Katie Jackson and becoming a coach when his college basketball career is over. His first experience leading in that way came in the form of helping his sisters, who he says he aspires to be an example for despite being only 11 months older.
“We all look up to him in a way,” Saniyah told Basket Under Review. “Our goal is to be as successful as he is because he does a really good job with what he does, so it’s not only our mom that pushed us throughout growing up. It was our brother, too.”
Butler men’s basketball coach Thad Matta has been a Division-I head coach for 24 years with stints at Xavier and Ohio State, yet he says he’s never had one of his players have the experience that Jackson is having with his sisters as a member of his school’s women’s basketball team.
Matta says that Butler prides itself on family and that “it doesn’t get much more family” than the Jacksons and their roles as go-to players at the same place. Three years ago, none of the three had power-five offers. Now they’re here and plan to prove that there’s more to them making it here than just the obvious family storyline.
“We've always been doubted our whole lives,” Jackson said. “No one ever thought we could get to this level and be able to play at the highest level and also produce. I can tell you that by the end of the season, everyone will see why we deserve to be here and why we work so hard for this moment and I feel like just the motivation of being doubted is something that's just kept us going.”
The sky-scraper laden scenery set the stage and Jackson walked onto the campus at University of Illinois Chicago with all of his college basketball dreams ahead of him and something to prove. Jackson never thought that he received the attention he deserved as a recruit and by the end of the recruiting process he was without any power-five offers.
When it was all said and done, Jackson had UIC, Bellarmine, Toledo, Winthrop, IU Indy, Purdue Fort Wayne, Miami (Ohio), Ball State, Milwaukee and Wright State to choose from. The offers told the story that Jackson was a mid-major player and nothing more. The now-Butler guard never believed that, though.
“I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder,” Jackson said. “At the end of the day, if you believe in yourself then I believe that you'll be able to do things that no one else thinks you can.”
It took a year at UIC and two at Purdue Fort Wayne for Jackson to prove his theory, but his 19.2 point per game season in 2024-25 finally allowed others to see what he saw as he entered his name into the transfer portal. When Matta picked up the phone, he gravitated toward Jackson’s personality and his desire to be a student of the game. He also noticed a part of Jackson’s personality that he knew had to be there if he was going to have any chance to help Butler find its way back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
None of these three siblings were supposed to be here. In another era, they would’ve had to find contentment in careers as four-year players at programs that operate outside of the national spotlight. Here they are, with Jackson embracing his fit within a Matta team in the Big East.
“We try to recruit kids that have a chip on their shoulder that have something to prove or are maybe a little overlooked,” Matta told Basket Under Review. “I think he does carry that with him, but he is also a kid that’s got respect.”
Jackson says his decision to leave a “great” situation at Purdue Fort Wayne–which is located in his hometown–was "hard". He had formed a meaningful enough relationship with Purdue Fort Wayne assistant Ryan Sims that he had to think long and hard about hitting the transfer portal.
The idea that Jackson would use his senior season anywhere other than a power-five program is a miscarriage of justice, though. Jackson led the Horizon League in points per game, was top five in field goal percentage and was top 15 in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. On an individual level, Jackson had checked nearly every box he could at that level. He nearly transcended it.
As much as Jackson’s heart drew him to stay at Purdue Fort Wayne, the chip on his shoulder prevented him from settling for another Horizon League Player of the Year race. He felt as if he wanted to prove that he could be an impact player in one of college basketball’s best leagues.
“No doubt,” Jackson said in regard to that idea. “I’ve still got a long way to go, but I think in due time I feel like I'm gonna be able to understand it all and I'll be able to continue to show why I deserve to be here.”
While Butler formed its identity throughout Jackson’s first summer of work within this program, he stood off to the side and rehabbed “all summer,” Matta says. Jackson's dislocated ankle has contributed to his relatively slow start to his senior season, but Matta says he’d like to get to the point where he hands the keys off to the Purdue Fort Wayne transfer.
Jackson participated in what Matta admits was likely around 40% of fall practice, but his veteran head coach says he’s seen enough to believe that Jackson is ready for the transition to what he considers his natural position of point guard. Perhaps it’s Jackson’s “junkie” like nature or his combination of positional size and IQ that gives Matta confidence, but it’s become enough to allow Matta to believe that there’s more in there for his physical guard than he’s seen to this point.
“I know it’s been frustrating for him, but I give him credit for keeping himself in phenomenal shape and dialing into the practices when he’s not practicing,” Matta said. “I think he’s going to continue to grow because he’s experienced and he’s played college basketball for four years and he’s played different positions along the way. Where we want him to be is where he needs to be and where I think he’ll be at his best.”
Jackson’s frame and scoring acumen often forced him to play on the wing at IUPUI rather than allowing him to take on a role as a primary ballhandler, but when Matta identified the former Purdue Fort Wayne’s skillset he was sold that Jackson could be his point guard.
The transfer guard identified with that idea and admits that he’s been intentional about being engaged and looking for his teammates enough to fulfill the true point guard role through Butler’s opening stretch.
If this group is going to get to where it wants to when this is all said and done, Jackson will have to transcend injury and lack of acclimation time in order to become one of the go-to guys on this roster. Matta’s team is designed with that in mind. Time for it to happen.
While Jackson looks to achieve his goals, he’s flanked by his sisters and armed with a level of gratefulness that he wouldn’t have gained had he taken the conventional path to this level.
“It's just a blessing to be here and I'm so so thankful that I had this opportunity just being around this coaches, the school, my teammates, and you know all the opportunities that present itself being in Indianapolis,” Jackson said. “It’s definitely something that I'll never take for granted.”