Fearless Emanuel Sharp Gives National Title Hunting Houston 3 Elite Closers — How a Clutch Time Edge Sets Kelvin Sampson’s Latest Power Team Apart

Emanuel Sharp is used to chaos in big-time basketball games. He grew up watching his dad play for championships in Israel as drums never stopped beating in the stands, firecrackers got shot off and smoke bombs sometimes made their way to the floor. So a jumping Toyota Center with the vastly outnumbered, but suddenly loud, Texas A&M fans feeling the moment is no big thing.

With the University of Houston’s offense breaking down around him, with the shot clock down to three seconds, Sharp takes a pass from Jamal Shead and lets another three go. He’s a few feet behind the 3-point line and A&M’s 6-foo-7 forward Solomon Washington’s long arms are extended even higher, somewhat shielding his view. No matter.

Sharp’s shot finds the bottom of the net as the shot clock hits two, causing at least a d0zen Aggie sorority girls to stomp their feet in disappointment, Houston can see 11-0 clearly.

This is what big-time shot makers do. Hit the three with 29 seconds left that gives the third ranked team in the nation just enough breathing room to stay perfect. Sampson’s Cougars boasts three of these late game closers. That’d be Jamal Shead, who stunned Memphis in an even more highly charged environment last March with a shot that legendary CBS voice Jim Nantz calls his “all-time favorite buzzer beater” and made several important plays in the last five minutes against Texas A&M; Baylor transfer LJ Cryer who can score and shoot with anyone in the country; and Sharp, the sophomore who often felt like The Forgotten One of a high-profile recruiting class that included Top 10 NBA pick Jarace Walker.

But Texas A&M basketball won’t ever forget Emanuel Sharp now. You remember the ones who break your heart.

“Well, he’s fearless,” Kelvin Sampson says when I ask him about Sharp’s willingness to take the high-pressure shots after UH’s 70-66 win over A&M in the event dubbed the Halal Guys Showcase. “I think that’s where you start with Emanuel. As a sophomore, these guys have all been in big games. Jamal’s been in two Sweet Sixteens and an Elite Eight. He’s been on teams that beat the Big Ten champions. He was on a team that beat the Pac-12 champions.

“. . . But having a a guy like Emanuel in his second year, a sophomore, games like this are only going to help him going forward.”

And help 11-0 Houston too. Few of even the elite college basketball teams in the country have three cold-blooded closers like this edition of Sampson’s every year power. And on the biggest college basketball day of the season so far, a Super Saturday that sees fellow Big 12 contender Baylor tumble from the ranks of the unbeaten in a blowout loss to Michigan State, No. 1 Arizona fall to likely new No. 1 Purdue and Memphis knock off another of the few remaining undefeated teams (Clemson), Sampson’s bunch finds a way to keep winning.

Sampson knows that this particular team loves the big moments, has been waiting for them in some ways and keeps grabbing them whenever the chance is there. Everyone wants to shoot the ball in the first 35 minutes of a game. This UH team has a number of guys who can’t wait to take the shots in the last five minutes when many suddenly don’t want the ball.

This is a team driven by players who love being on the grand stage as much as Chris Rock.

“Personally, I love the big stage,” Sharp says. “Games like this are exciting. Something you always dream about. Playing in big games like this. Big games in big arenas. It just makes the moment bigger. I love big moments.”

Emanuel Sharp and the Cougars find a big game player on the other side in this one. Wade Taylor IV, the Preseason SEC Player of the Year, drops in 26 of his 34 points and buries all six of his threes in a second half where he keeps hitting shots that could win any game of H-O-R-S-E with ease. While often guarded by Jamal Shead, one of the best defensive guards in America.

“I’ve been playing Jamal a lot my whole life,” Taylor says. “He’s from Texas. I know he’s a pretty good defender, but I’m just trying to be the best I can for my team.”

UH Coaching’s Game Plan Win

Taylor’s best is enough to erase a 21 point Houston lead, one built on an early 10-0 UH advantage in fast break points orchestrated by Shead and a smart tactical decision from Kelvin Sampson and one of the best coaching staffs in America. Knowing that Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams, something of a full-time Sampson devotee, would try to limit Shead’s ability to be manufacture open looks for his teammates, Sampson and his staff draw up a twist that makes power forward J’Wan Roberts a secondary creator with the ball swinging across the court. Roberts would finish with a career-high seven assists (almost double his previous high for assists in any game during his four-season UH career) to go with his 10 points and 11 rebounds.

“That was a part of our plan,” Sampson says. “The way they defended, we thought we could hurt them with the crosscourt skip to the weak side. So we made sure our shooters were there.”

Cryer (17 points, four threes)  and Sharp (21 points, five threes) both get numerous open looks out of the offensive scheme wrinkle before Texas A&M can adjust in the second half. And it’s another example of one of the oft overlooked secrets of this UH run. This is one of the best prepared teams in the country too, one that benefits from a coaching staff that isn’t afraid to put in something special for a particular opponent.

Game planning is another strength of this powerhouse staff of Kelvin Sampson, Kellen Sampson, Quannas White, K.C. Beard and Hollis Price. Houston can out scheme you too.

“Well, he’s fearless. I think that’s where you start with Emanuel.” — UH coach Kelvin Sampson on guard Emanuel Sharp

Of course, sometimes the most careful game planning in the world cannot account for the chaos that can erupt in a big game. Terrance Arceneaux, an ultra talented sophomore wing and beloved teammate, tears his Achilles tendon in the first half and the Cougars don’t quite seem the same after many of them find out at halftime. No one in this proud UH program would ever try to use that as an excuse or even offer it as a slight explanation for the blown big lead, but it’s hard to think there wasn’t some effect.

The best teams in the country find ways to overcome things. Whether it’s dealing with the hurt you’re feeling for a buddy or facing a talented player (Taylor) who suddenly can’t miss.

“Taylor started hitting some Hail Marys,” Kelvin Sampson says. “Those were hard, hard shots. But he’s an outstanding shooter.”

Taylor puts up one of the more memorable games that any single player has against a Kelvin Sampson defense.

Few of even the elite college basketball teams in the country have three cold-blooded closers like this edition of Kelvin Sampson’s every year power.

Emanuel Sharp, The Closer

Like the elite team all the metrics screams it is, this No. 1 NET Houston squad still closes the game out though. Some way. Its way. Through inexplicable travels and a few braindead plays. With one of its three closers. The youngest one. The one who grew up hearing stories about his dad Derrick Sharp and the leaning triple he hit at the buzzer to force overtime in the EuroLeague semifinals in 2004, the year Emanuel was born.

Maybe there is a clutch gene.

Emanuel Sharp will leave the Toyota Center court holding the huge gold medallion that is awarded to the MVP of each Halal Guys Showcase. This piece of jewelry is worthy of the Miami Hurricanes football turnover chain, and a symbol of this delightfully eccentric (and hopefully continuing) Halal Guys Classic. More importantly, Sharp leaves with his UH teammates’ respect and graditude.

“Somebody had to step up and today it was Emanuel,” LJ Cryer says. “Emanuel hit some big shots down the stretch. That’s how we handled it.”

Closers appreciate other closers. And few teams hold the kind of end-game hand this Houston team does in today’s college basketball world.