‘Crash’ the X factor in Houston’s success
DALLAS — Late in the second half of the University of Houston’s NCAA Tournament second-round game against Texas A&M, Emanuel Sharp knocked the ball loose from Tyrece Radford, chased it to the corner, and made a diving save before it went out of bounds.
Jamal Shead waited several seconds for Sharp to get back on his feet and greeted him with a dap.
“When anybody makes a culture play like that, we like to give everybody props and their credit,” Sharp said.
“He made a good defensive play,” Shead added. “I was just excited. I didn’t realize I waited five seconds for him.”
“Crash,” the nickname coach Kelvin Sampson first gave to Sharp after the team returned from an exhibition trip to Australia last summer, has been making body-sacrificing, scramble-on-the-floor plays all season.
“I seem to be all over the place, all over the floor, running into screens, so he came up with the nickname,” said Sharp, a 6-foot-3 redshirt sophomore guard. “I’ll take it. It comes from playing hard. It’s funny but it’s a compliment at the same time. I’m always flying around, but that’s how I play.”
That wasn’t the only play Sharp made in the wild 100-95 overtime win over the Aggies, which sent the South Region’s top-seeded Cougars to the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight tournament. Sharp scored 30 points and had seven 3-pointers, both career highs, including the goahead shot to start overtime before he was one of four Houston starters to foul out of the game.
With most of the focus on Houston’s backcourt of Shead, the Big 12’s player of the year and consensus first-team All-american, and L.J. Cryer, Sharp has been described as the X factor by teammates for his ability to rise to any occasion. Houston’s next test will come Friday against fourth-seeded Duke at American Airlines Center.
“He does a little bit of everything,” Cryer said. “He’s a good defender, gets to the paint, can shoot the ball, get rebounds. He’s a natural shot-maker. He contributes to all factors of the game. We’re going to need him.”
About the nickname: Sampson said he came up with “Crash” after repeatedly watching Sharp “throw himself around” on the court. One time, Sampson called for a baseline in-bounds play, designed to get the ball to Cryer or Sharp. Sharp fell and the ball ended up in another player’s hands.
“That’s ‘Crash’ for you,” Sampson said. “He falls down a lot.”
He also makes lots of shots, many coming with an increased level of difficulty with off-balanced floaters, spin moves and rapid-fire 3s that would make western gunslingers envious.
“He’s one-of-a-kind,” forward J’wan Roberts said. “He does all the little things. He plays hard but has definitely become a better player, more confident in himself.”
In his first season as a fulltime starter, Sharp is averaging 12.8 points. His 82 3-pointers are second on the team (Cryer has 111) and fifth in the Big 12. Sharp had two of his highest scoring games this season with 20 points in a split against Iowa State during the regular season.
Sharp’s biggest moment last season came in the NCAA Tournament when he hit consecutive 3s off the bench to give the Cougars some breathing room in a close first-round win over 16seed Northern Kentucky.
“He’s one of those guards that has earned the right to have freedom,” Sampson said. “When he came in here his light was probably a little more yellow than green. Now I want him to attack.”
A big change for Sharp this season was the removal of a metal rod that was placed in his shattered left leg following a horrific injury that forced him to miss his senior season at Bishop Mclaughlin Catholic in suburban Tampa, Fla. He suffered a broken fibula and dislocated ankle, a “horrific, horrific injury,” Sampson described, that kept him off the court for 18 months.
Sharp experienced discomfort throughout last season and decided to have the rod removed last summer.
“It’s a huge difference,” Sharp said. “It used to be nagging me all the time. It would be swollen after every single practice. It would limit my movement turning and cutting. I’m playing more carefree. I don’t have to think about it while I’m playing, whether it’s nagging me or not. I can just put on my shoes and go hoop.”
Almost immediately, Sampson noticed Sharp was more athletic and moving better.
“Probably the area he’s improved the most in is accepting he’s a good player,” Sampson said. “Emanuel played with a certain swagger, but he had such a horrific leg injury that took that swagger away. Emanuel always had that swagger. We just had to get it back. Now he’s playing with that swagger.”
Two difficult shots in an overtime win at Baylor. A driving layup, two steals, a 3-pointer and a save on a ball going out of bounds in the opening minutes against Iowa State.
A dive on the floor for a loose ball.
All in a day’s work for “Crash.” “He’s going to continue to get better,” Sampson said. “Emanuel’s best days are ahead of him. He’s nowhere near his ceiling.”