As Alexis Markowski gears up for her fourth and final season as a Cornhusker, her name is already littered across the Nebraska women’s basketball record books.
The All-Big Ten performer is at the top of the program’s career double-doubles list, tied at 40 with Nebraska Athletics Hall of Famers Kelsey Griffin and Jordan Hooper, and the 6-foot-3 senior has a full season remaining to put separation between herself and everyone else.
“I never imagined it,” Markowski said at Big Ten Media Days. “Watching those players, to be compared to them or my name even being in the same sentence as them is really crazy to me, but I try not to think about that stuff. That’s not really why I play or doesn’t really drive me, to break records like that. I’m here to win. I’m here to be a great teammate and leader for this team.”
With Jaz Shelley off to the pros in Australia, Nebraska will need even more from Markowski this season, both in terms of on-court production and leadership, and she’s excited for the challenge.
“It’s been such an awesome tag-team so far,” Coach Amy Williams said. “I feel like last year Jaz and Lex really were kind of the two leaders of our team, and now Lex has had some other people kind of stepping up and helping her. We feel like there’s not one person that’s going to take over Jaz’s role or anything like that, but I think between Lex and her fire and energy and confidence and positivity, and then you couple that with Callin Hake who just has a pulse for everybody on the team and is willing to give one-on-one time, and Kendall Coley, who is the most selfless player that I have ever played … It’s about the team first and it’s kind of been a combination of leadership with our returners that have just put their arms around our new kids and helped them see how things go at Nebraska.”
Markwoski took some time off after Nebraska’s 2024 NCAA Tournament run to recover from a few minor injuries before returning to the court to work on her game and acclimate with her new teammates.
“This summer was really good, just adding in our new pieces and doing a lot of individual skill workouts to just finish better around the rim,” Markowski said. “I want to improve my 3-point percentage and also defensively, just getting stronger and faster.”
Markowski averaged 15.7 points and 10.5 rebounds as a junior, both career highs, but she also shot just under 50% inside the arc and 29.6% from 3, two areas she identified as primary focuses for her offseason development. She also highlighted ball-handling as something she’s worked on to help her compete against the likes of 6-foot-7 UCLA center Lauren Betts and 6-foot-4 Wisconsin center Serah Williams .
“Something that’s really helped me is being versatile,” Markowski said. “Being able to stretch the floor and shoot the 3, playing in that pro post area has really helped me. I’ve tried to improve my handle in the offseason so I can beat people off the dribble a little bit more, especially those bigger players. I feel like I’m pretty strong, but against Oregon State, Raegan Beers, I really struggled with her physicality and her size. So in the offseason I really tried to work around that and to finish better around that size.”
Markowski said she’s tried to avoid thinking about how this is her final season with Nebraska women’s basketball, a sentiment her head coach shares. Both player and coach made it a point of emphasis that they’re focused on the day-to-day process and making the most of the time they have left together.
“We’re not putting too much pressure on what’s next,” Williams said. “I think the best results for her are going to come from having fun today with her teammates, having fun falling in love with the process of ‘What could I do today to try to get 1% better?’ and not dealing with a lot of pressure or stress of what’s next. I think living in the moment, enjoying this last ride as a Husker is kind of forefront for her and something that I want to keep her grounded with because that plan is already written for her and so there’s no reason to worry about that. Let’s just enjoy each moment.
“I know I’m going to enjoy every single day that I get to spend as her coach and I’m just going to soak that up, and I think she’s doing the same.”
Markowski has her sights set on a pro career once she’s done at Nebraska, but for now she’s taking her coach’s advice. The Huskers have big goals coming off winning an NCAA Tournament game last season and it’s going to take a lot of work to accomplish them.
“I’d like to go undefeated and win a national title, that’s the dream, but I think for me I just want to take it day-by-day and focus on becoming the best version of myself and inspiring my teammates to do the same thing, and the rest should follow with that,” Markowski said. “This is my last year at Nebraska; I really want it to be the best year, so I’ll just put in that extra time, get those extra shots up, watch film, so when it’s season time, it can be the best year.”
