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Jasmine Keys isn’t a particularly Italian-sounding name, but make no mistake about it, she’s 100 percent Italian on her mother’s side.
Having played for Famila Schio since 2019, she insists playing for a non-Italian club team in Europe wouldn’t be a problem for her, but living outside the continent would be. Rising through the ranks of the Italian basketball system since she was a teenager, Jasmine, now 27, was a starter on the Italian national team that finished third in this year’s EuroBasket Women competition. A 6-foot-4 forward who is team-player and tough defender, Keys spoke to Swish Appeal about the tournament, including guarding WNBA stars Jessica Shepard (Slovenia) and Emma Meesseman (Belgium).
On Italy’s incredible run in the tournament:
The fact that we won five of six games is crazy. We grew up a lot during the training camp. We lost some players due to injuries, but we grew up a lot. Of course there was some enthusiasm before the tournament, but we kept it low, didn’t get too high. We were aware [of how good we were], but we were rational too. We looked each other in the eyes and said, “We can do something great,” but stayed calm.
On guarding Jessica Shepard:
She’s a really nice post player. A typical 5, she has great body control, control of her movements, how she feels the defense behind her and is really tough. Thanks to scouting, we knew that she goes mostly to the right, she doesn’t shoot much from 3, maybe once per game, she can pass the ball, etc. The game was most focused on her, so playing defense we focused mostly on her.
On guarding Emma Meesseman:
She can do everything and is tough. You can learn a lot from her. She goes to one side, then she goes to the other one. She can pass amazing, she can shoot from anywhere. She didn’t shoot so well against us, so we did good.
