Shavon O'Day Shields (born June 5, 1994) is an American-Danish professional basketball player for Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball team.
High school career
As a junior, Shields was a second-team all-Class 6A honoree and a first-team All-Sunflower Conference selection, as he averaged 17 points and six rebounds a game. Shields transferred into Olathe Northwest for his sophomore year, earning Sunflower League Newcomer-of-the-Year accolades. He also starred playing AAU ball for the MoKan Elite and Coach Rodney Perry. An outstanding student with a 4.0 GPA, Shields was on the honor roll throughout high school and a National Honor Society member.
As a senior, Shields was a consensus first-team Class 6A selection in Kansas after averaging 21.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game for Coach Michael Grove at Olathe Northwest High School. He helped the Ravens to a 20–2 record and an appearance in the sub-state finals. Shields helped Olathe Northwest to an unblemished record in league play, earning Sunflower Conference MVP honors. In addition, he earned second-team all-class honors from the Topeka Capital Journal and Wichita Eagle, a first-team all-metro selection by the Kansas City Star and was a finalist for the DiRenna Award, signifying the top player in the Kansas City area.
Shields came to Nebraska after being one of the top players in the Kansas City area throughout his prep career. Shields joined Willie Cauley-Stein as Olathe Northwest's first-ever Division I signees in November 2011. Shields totaled 1,068 points in his three-year career at the school and finished as the school's all-time leader in points, rebounds, free throws, field goals, steals and rebounds.
Recruitment
Shavon selected Nebraska over Texas Tech, Oregon State, Weber State, Long Beach State and Wyoming.
College career
Freshman year
Shields was twice named Big Ten Conference Freshman of the week during the 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.
Sophomore year
Shields was the November 11, 2013 and March 10, 2014 men's basketball player of the week during the 2013–14 Big Ten Conference season. On January 31, 2014, he was named an Academic All-District by CoSIDA, placing him among the 40 finalists for fifteen 2013–14 Academic All-American basketball selections.
Junior year
On February 26, 2016, Shields became the first Nebraska men's basketball player to be named a First Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Senior year
Shields finished his career at Nebraska tied for fifth on the school's all-time scoring list (1,630 points). He led the Huskers in scoring his senior season with 16.8 points per game. The conference coaches named him Second Team All-Big Ten, and the conference media panel selected him to its Third Team.
Academic achievements
Shields also excelled as a student. During the 2015–16 year, Shields was selected as the Male Student-Athlete of the Year, narrowly being selected over friend and fellow classmate Levi Gipson. Shields carried a 3.73 GPA in biological sciences and was a six-time member of Nebraska's scholar-athlete honor roll. Although participating in different sports, Shields and Gipson pushed each other in the classroom and both achieved First-team CoSIDA Academic All-American honors. Shields is the sixth Husker to be a CoSIDA Academic All-American in basketball, but the only one to be named to the first team.
College statistics
Correct as of 11 March 2016
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2012–13
| style="text-align:left;"| Nebraska
| 28 || 19 || 28.7 || .471 || .359 || .676 || 5.1 || 0.9 || 0.8 || 0.3 || 8.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2013–14
| style="text-align:left;"| Nebraska
| 32 || 32 || 32.6 || .443 || .316 || .721 || 5.8 || 1.6 || 0.9 || 0.3 || 12.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2014–15
| style="text-align:left;"| Nebraska
| 31 || 31 || 35.3 || .440 || .195 || .827 || 6.0 || 2.2 || 1.1 || 0.2 || 15.4
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2015–16
| style="text-align:left;"| Nebraska
| 30 || 30 || 30.7 || .470 || .364 || .769 || 5.1 || 2.7 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 16.8
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 121 || 112 || 31.9 || .455 || .296 || .759 || 5.5 || 1.8 || 1.0 || 0.3 || 13.5
|-
Professional career
Fraport Skyliners (2016–2017) On August 24, 2016, Shields signed with the German team Fraport Skyliners.