The Punisher — Houston’s Emanuel Sharp Isn’t Just College Basketball’s Best Deep Shooter, He’s a Contact Craving Chaos Creator

Emanuel Sharp’s right ankle’s been bothering him. Barking at him. Nagging at him like an overprotective helicopter mom. But the University of Houston’s big guard refuses to listen. Sharp is used to delivering the punishment. He barely acknowledges any pain of his own. “I’ve played with all of it,” Sharp says. “There’s a difference between injury and pain. I can play through little knick knack injuries.”

Houston associate head coach Quannas White jokes that when Sharp took an elbow to the face earlier this season, he “was more worried about the other guy.”

“I don’t worry about Emanuel,” White tells PaperCity. “He might be the most physical guard we’ve ever had. I don’t worry about him at all. . . I hope we get more physical guards like Emanuel. LJ (Cryer’s) like that in a sense. Emanuel’s extremely physical.”

Sharp plays basketball like a Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robot, banging into anything that moves. Whether he’s on offense or defense, opposing players feel Emanuel Sharp. He almost seeks out contact, like a linebacker playing shooting guard. Only no linebackers can shoot like this.

Heading into UH’s Big 12 season opener at Oklahoma State on Monday night (7 pm on ESPN+), Sharp is shooting 49.2 percent from 3-point range on nearly six attempts per game. And that includes a 1-f0r-6 clip from distance in a romp over Toledo when Sharp first aggravated his ankle and noticeably lost some of the lift on his jumper.

“Best shooter in college basketball,” Bill Worrell, the legendary longtime TV voice of the Houston Rockets and a forever Coog, says with a grin when he walks by Sharp talking to reporters.

Sharp always could shoot. But he’s taking (and hitting) more long bomb 3-pointers this season, shots from a distance that even Steph Curry could appreciate. Sometimes these are shots of necessity. The shot clock is running down. Or the defense is playing him too tightly to get a closer look from there. But all of these extra long daggers deliver a jolt.

To Sharp’s own team and the opposition.

“It’s always exciting for those shots to go in,” Sharp says. “It gives everybody some energy.”

Sharp doesn’t hesitate when I ask him if he has a range, a distance from which he won’t attempt a trey. “Not really,” he says, flashing the type of smile Tom Cruise breaks into in a Mission Impossible movie. “I’ve always been a shooter.”

Heading into UH’s Big 12 season opener at Oklahoma State on Monday night, Sharp is shooting 49.2 percent from 3-point range on nearly six attempts per game

Sharp is particularly good when the shot clock is ticking down, making any type of shot a wise one. “At the end of the clock, there’s less — no — pressure,” he says. “You’re just shooting it clear minded. That’s why I lot of mine go in at the end of the clock.”

On what is jumping out as the best shooting team that Kelvin Sampson’s ever coached at the University of Houston, Sharp and fifth-year senior guard LJ Cryer (shooting 41 percent from three on nearly seven attempts per game) are counted on to do the heaviest lifting. In Houston’s last nonconference game, 87-51 brushback of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Cryer and Sharp went a combined 8-for-12 from 3-point land. But Terrance Arceneaux (41 percent shooting from three this season) hits three triples of his own, new starting point guard Milos Uzan drains two triples and true freshman guard Mercy Miller adds another with Sampson noting that he thought all five of Miller’s shot attempts from three were good shots.

“This is probably the deepest group of guys that we’ve had who can really shoot the three ball,” White says. “With Terrance improving the way that he has from the 3-point line and LJ and Emanuel being the shooters that they are and how hard they work on it every single day. . . And then you get a guy like Milos whose shooting is continuing to improve.

“It just helps us when you’ve got that many guys that can make a three at a good percentage.”

Emanuel Sharp And the Power of Free Points

While Emanuel Sharp’s shooting is what will capture most people’s attention, his willingness to drive and create contact and his defensive intensity are equally important to this 15th ranked Houston team with plenty to prove. Sharp has taken 46 free throws this season, 20-plus more than anyone else on the team, and he’s hit 42 of those attempts. With the ultra physical Big 12’s new 20-game super schedule starting tonight, Sharp’s ability to create easy points for the Cougars, using his 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame like a battering ram, will become even more important.

“Him being able to get to the free-throw line and use his strength, I think it adds another layer to his game,” White notes. “He’s an elite shooter. So to be able to get to the free-throw line, it just speaks volumes of the type of player he is and how he continues to improve. It’s a work in progress.”

“This is probably the deepest group of guys that we’ve had who can really shoot the three ball.” — UH associate head coach Quannas White

For this 8-3 Houston team to reach its full potential, Sharp must improve his rebounding too, something that Kelvin Sampson has been pushing him to do, something that Sharp is very much aware of. In UH’s three guard starting lineup, the 6-foot-3 Sharp is usually matched up against a small forward, often a bigger player who will crash the glass.

Yes, there is an awful lot on Emanuel Sharp’s plate. That is the way in Sampson’s beyond elite program. This is Sharp’s third season in UH’s system. That comes with all kinds of extra responsibilities.

“It’s his time,” Houston assistant coach Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity. “Emanuel’s got next in a lot of ways.”

Sharp will take on that job in the most physical way possible, throwing his body around the court, bouncing off bodies and embracing every bit of contact.