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Houston could’ve given up on Emanuel Sharp. It wouldn’t have been the first school to do so.

Two months after Emanuel led Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School (Florida) to the state title game as a junior, he broke his fibula and dislocated his ankle at a pickup game in May 2021.

At the time, Emanuel had multiple Division I offers and was the reigning Class 5A player of the year in Florida. While some schools pulled their offers, Houston didn’t. Its coaching staff suggested he graduate high school early to rehab with the Cougars during the spring.

A week after his surgery, Emanuel publicly committed to Houston.

“I really appreciated that they stayed the same before I got hurt and then after I got hurt, so I was really sold on that,” Emanuel told The Daily Orange. “I knew about Houston, but I didn’t really understand their brand of basketball. When I got to experience it, I fell in love with it.”

Now in his senior year with Houston, Emanuel has developed into a star for the 5-0 Cougars. When No. 2 Houston faces Syracuse Monday, he’ll likely be a name to watch on the Orange’s scouting report. Through Houston’s first five games, he’s averaging career-highs of 16.0 points and 3.8 rebounds.

Emanuel Sharp puts up a 3-pointer from the right wing in Houston’s win over Rider. Sharp has scored double-digit points in all but one of the Cougars’ games this season. Photograph by Mario Puente, courtesy of GoCoogs.com

While he’s now the face of a Houston program that’s become synonymous with winning since his arrival, Emanuel’s path to stardom was a grind.

When he arrived in Houston for the spring 2022 semester, he was 30 pounds overweight. His condition wasn’t due to a lack of effort. Emanuel spent months in former NFL quarterback Tom Brady’s nearby TB12 Performance and Recovery Center after his injury, rebuilding his strength on air treadmills and low-gravity machines.

Derrick Sharp, Emanuel’s father, said it was difficult to watch his son’s lengthy recovery process. He described Emanuel’s rehab journey at a top program like Houston as a “gauntlet.” Still, he knew Emanuel had the mental strength to succeed at Houston.

“He had some deep, dark days, second-guessing his career,” Derrick said. “Our main thing was to tell him, ‘Everything happens for a reason. This is to make you better. Use it as a way to improve yourself and show how bad you really want to be great.’”

Throughout the process, Houston’s staff never lost faith in him. K.C. Beard, formerly Houston’s video coordinator, knew he wanted Emanuel to play for the Cougars when he first watched him. When Beard was promoted to assistant coach, he heavily pursued Emanuel, describing him as his “top recruit.”

He contacted Emanuel and his parents every day. As Emanuel sat in his bed, recovering with his cast on, he bonded with Beard over their shared love of the Netflix show, “The 100.”

Justine Ellison Sharp, Emanuel’s mother, was immediately impressed with Houston and Beard’s commitment. After speaking with Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson, Justine knew it was “where he needed to be.”

Ultimately, Emanuel and Beard’s relationship proved to be the difference in his commitment.

“Some schools were backing out, but we doubled down and stayed committed,” Beard said. “He’s someone I’ll stay in touch with forever.”

As the son of two former professional basketball players, Emanuel leaned on his parents through his recovery. Derrick spent 18 years playing professionally in Israel. Justine spent five years at the University of Toronto, getting into its Hall of Fame in 2009, and spent a decade playing in Israel, too.

Justine tore her ACL twice during her career, but watching Emanuel’s recovery was “100 million times worse,” she said. She worried about whether he’d return to the same level but knew he’d stay positive throughout his rehab.

“As a parent, you’re just worried about his mental health,” Justine said. “I just admire him for his grit, his work ethic, his perseverance and his positivity. It couldn’t have been handled any better than the way that he did.”

Though it wasn’t under ideal circumstances, Emanuel’s arrival at Houston fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing Division I basketball. Derrick said his son “came out of the womb” with a ball in his hands. Emanuel would sit on the floor in diapers, dribbling a basketball before he could walk or crawl.

As one of four brothers, pickup games were competitive in the Sharp household. The extra reps helped him develop faster than other kids his age. In second and third grade, Emanuel played against fifth graders in local community leagues. Justine said she and Derrick had to petition for him to play up, but once he tried out, Emanuel was one of the best players in their neighborhood.

“When I saw him at 7 years old playing against 9-year-olds and holding his own, I was like, ‘OK, he’s gonna be pretty good,’” Derrick said.

Emanuel’s talent translated to the next level when his family moved to Tampa. Sean Campbell, Emanuel’s coach at the Florida Rebels in the EYBL circuit, was scouting for his high school program when he first watched Emanuel play at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando.

Campbell watched in disbelief as Emanuel, a “fat kid that was frying the other team,” dropped 48 points. The next day, when Campbell came back and watched Emanuel dominate again, he became convinced Emanuel needed to be on his team.

“I called our director, and I was like, ‘Man, I might have found the best kid that we’ve ever seen before,’” Campbell said. “He’s like, ‘Stop playing.’ I’m like, ‘I’m dead serious.’”

Emanuel Sharp walks into the Alamodome for the National Championship game last season. Sharp helped carry the Cougars through the playoffs last year, averaging 12.8 points in six contests. Photograph by Mario Puente, courtesy of GoCoogs.com

Campbell described Emanuel as the “best offensive kid” he’s ever coached, despite being on a team with current NBA players like the Utah Jazz’s Brice Sensabaugh and Taylor Hendricks. His shot diet was full of tough looks, but he still sank them consistently due to his confidence.

Without Emanuel because of his injury, the Rebels lost in the Final Four of the Peach Jam championships, but Campbell said that there was “no way” they would’ve lost if Emanuel was healthy.

Now, Campbell thinks Emanuel has a chance to redeem himself this season at Houston.

“They gotta win,” Campbell said. “I want him to have that same opportunity again this year, because if the ball is in his hands late game, they’re gonna win.”

From the second Emanuel set foot in Texas, that was his ultimate goal. But it took 18 months to recover from his injury.

After he got into playing shape at Houston, during the 2022-23 campaign, Emanuel spent his freshman year in pain, hindered by a metal rod in his ankle. He was adjusting to college, fighting for minutes on a March Madness team and recovering from injury simultaneously. Despite everything working against him, Justine said he never complained.

“He’s always approached everything with such positivity, and I think that it has been a huge part of his success,” Justine said.

His confidence grew as the year went on, and he soon became the team’s sixth man. Though Houston was eliminated in the Sweet 16 that year, Emanuel had become an important depth piece for the Cougars.

But Emanuel wasn’t satisfied. That offseason, he underwent surgery to remove the metal rod in his ankle and emerged as a full-time starter for Houston. He doubled his scoring production from his freshman year, averaging 12.6 points per game, and became a better defender after he was picked on as a freshman.

“It was just ​​getting over the mental hump of it,” Emanuel said. “The longer you spend in this program, the better you get, because you understand how everything works and how you want to play. I just embraced every role I had, and that helped me move up.”

Off the court, he relied on Beard as a mentor. Emanuel often met with him in his office to keep himself in the right headspace, and said he’d “talk to him about anything.”

That year, that mindset helped him shine on the biggest stage. In the NCAA Tournament Round of 32, Emanuel dropped 30 points in an overtime win over Texas A&M to send Houston to the Sweet 16.

After years of grinding, Emanuel was himself again.

“He’s really a Houston Cougar through and through,” Beard said. “You’ve got to have guys that are resilient. When you go through an injury like Emanuel had, you develop an inner resilience.”

Last year, the Cougars started 3-4 after losing core pieces like now-NBA guard Jamal Shead. With Shead gone, Sampson called Emanuel out, saying he needed to improve even more defensively.

Instead of backing down, Emanuel helped the Cougars win 31 of their next 32 games, contributing on both sides of the ball while fighting through an ankle sprain that devolved into plantar fasciitis. He took medication before games to help him with the pain.

Once March Madness rolled around, Emanuel overcame the injury and led Houston to the national championship. Against Tennessee in the Elite Eight, Emanuel clamped its leading scorer, Chaz Lanier, who shot 4-for-18 as Houston advanced.

In the championship game, Emanuel turned in another defensive masterclass, holding Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. without a point through the first 25 minutes. But it wasn’t enough. With the game on the line and Houston trailing by two, Emanuel got the ball on the left wing.

He rose up for the final shot but pump-faked as Clayton flew in to contest.

Trying to avoid a travel, he could only watch as the ball dribbled in front of him and the clock hit zero. When the buzzer sounded, Emanuel slumped to the floor, head pressed into his hands, while blue and orange confetti rained down around him.

In the 2025 National Championship game, Emanuel Sharp releases a shot as Florida’s Micah Handlogten closes in. Sharp scored eight points but provided strong defense in Houston’s loss. Photograph by Mario Puente, courtesy of GoCoogs.com

After the game, Emanuel was made fun of on social media and even received death threats. It wasn’t the ending he envisioned at the school that didn’t give up on him. Still, Emanuel remained positive.

“With all the negativity in the world, there’s no reason to be adding to it,” Emanuel said. “You try to be the best and nicest version of yourself for all the people around you.”

Now, he has a fresh start in his final year with Houston. It’s been a long journey for Emanuel, developing from an oft-injured freshman into the face of the Cougars’ program.

With Emanuel playing the best basketball of his career for one of the nation’s top teams, the Cougars are poised to return to college basketball’s biggest stage. And his family couldn’t be prouder of everything he’s overcome to get here.

“He’s already won. That’s what I always tell him,” Derrick said. “With all that he’s been through, going back to his childhood, the injury, and even being at Houston last year in the championship game, those are all lessons to learn from. He’s just going to be a stronger person.”

Emanuel isn’t looking ahead to the NBA Draft after college, where he’ll likely hear his name called. Instead, after finishing one shot shy of a national title, Emanuel has one thing on his mind.

“I just like to stay in the moment,” Emanuel said. “First and foremost, I want a national championship. That’s been the main goal since I’ve been here.”

Published on November 24, 2025 at 8:30 am
Contact Henry: hdaley@syr.edu | @henrydaleyy