| De Jesus with Duke in 2025 | |
| No. 2–Notre Dame Fighting Irish | |
|---|---|
| Position | Point guard |
| League | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | January 17, 2002 Northridge, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | Filipino / American |
| Listed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Sierra Canyon (Los Angeles, California) |
| College |
|
Vanessa Ongkeko de Jesus [1] (born January 17, 2002) is a Filipino-American college basketball player for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). She previously played for the Duke Blue Devils.
Vanessa de Jesus was born on January 17, 2002, in Northridge, California, with Valencia considered as her hometown. [1] Her parents Phillip and Maria de Jesus, [1] are both Filipinos. [2] She would attend Sierra Canyon School in Los Angeles before entering Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for her collegiate studies. [1] She transferred to the University of Notre Dame for the 2025–26 season. [3]
De Jesus committed to play for the Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA Division I in May 2019 which was then under coach Joanne P. McCallie. De Jesus would only be the player who had committed to remain with the Blue Devils after McCallie left. [4]
She debuted for the team now coached by Kara Lawson [4] in November 2020, becoming the first Filipino in Duke University's women's basketball program. [5] [6] [7]
In April 2025, De Jesus announced that she will transfer to Notre Dame and play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. [8]
De Jesus has expressed interest to suit up for the Philippines national team as early as 2020. [9] She would obtain her Philippine passport in May 2023 at age 21, making her eligible to play as a "naturalized player" according to FIBA eligibility rules. [10] She debuted for the Philippines at the 2023 FIBA Women's Asia Cup. [2] [11] [12]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | Duke | 4 | 4 | 33.3 | 54.5 | 50.0 | 60.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 12.0 |
| 2021–22 | Duke | 30 | 13 | 19.5 | 36.7 | 27.1 | 62.1 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 4.2 |
| 2022–23 | Duke | 32 | 1 | 15.5 | 42.7 | 34.8 | 89.2 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 5.0 |
| 2024–25 | Duke | 36 | 0 | 12.4 | 47.6 | 36.1 | 68.0 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.1 |
| Career | 102 | 18 | 16.3 | 42.8 | 33.8 | 73.3 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 4.4 | |
| Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference. [13] | |||||||||||||