Emanuel Sharp Fights On Through Social Media Hate, “Plans” To Test The NBA Draft Waters and Heals Up For Potential Epic Final Season at Houston

In the wake of The Last Shot That Never Happened in the national championship game, Derrick Sharp wrapped his son Emanuel Sharp in a hug and delivered a simple heartfelt message to the 21-year-old University of Houston guard. “I told Emanuel, ‘God, gives his toughest task to his toughest warriors,’ ” Derrick Sharp tells PaperCity. “He wasn’t afraid to be that person at the end.

“And in those situations, you just can’t be afraid to fail.”

Emanuel Sharp’s fearless play throughout the entire season, while playing through a nagging, often painful, foot injury, helped lift Houston to the cusp of the national championship. When UH came up one play short in a game with hundreds of plays in that 65-63 loss to Florida in the title game, many fixated on the very last play when Sharp went up for a potential game-winning three, realized he didn’t have a good shot in the air and dropped the ball only to watch in horror as it rolled away as the clock rang out. And Emanuel Sharp found his Twitter and Instagram accounts swarmed with some hateful messages from keyboard losers and gambling degenerates.

“Everybody’s going to scrutinize you,” Derrick Sharp says of the reaction. “Everybody’s got an opinion. Everybody’s lost money. It’s just a new way. All around. The game is not just watched for the accomplishments and what you’ve done to even get to that point. To be one of the two final teams playing in March. In April. That’s not even looked at anymore.

“Now it’s how much money can I make if I bet on your team. That kind of loses the real essence of the game and what it’s about.”

Derrick Sharp is proud of how his son is reacting to it all though. Both of Emanuel Sharp’s parents — Derrick and his wife Justin Ellison Sharp — visited him in Houston this last weekend and found the same determined, grateful, grounded kid they’ve always known.

“You’ve just got to keep coming back and keep fighting,” Derrick Sharp says. “I know he’s going to do it. He’s done it his whole life. It’s part of his journey now. And he’s handling it like a man.”

Part of Emanuel Sharp’s journey now will likely be declaring for the NBA Draft and getting feedback from teams on what he needs to work on while retaining the ability to return to UH (which remains the most likely outcome). “That’s the plan,” Derrick Sharp tells PaperCity of Emanuel seeking NBA feedback by entering the draft process. “But it’s all going to depend on how his plantar fasciitis is feeling.

“He’s going to take time for it to completely heal. Because you don’t want it to linger on throughout the summer. Once he’s completely healed, we’ll see what’s out there in terms of testing the NBA waters and workouts, all of that.”

Derrick Sharp doesn’t want his son to work out for NBA teams if he’s not feeling healthy and able to perform at his best.

Both of Emanuel Sharp’s parents played basketball at the professional level with Derrick Sharp still something of a folk hero in Israel because of his exploits for Maccabi Tel Aviv, and his wife even more fiery and outwardly competitive. Still Derrick Sharp will tell you that watching his son and this Houston team make it all the way to the national championship game is more thrilling than anything he ever accomplished on a basketball court.

“It’s part of his journey now. And he’s handling it like a man.” — Derrick Sharp on his son Emanuel responding to Houston’s national championship loss and that final play

Emanuel Sharp’s Last Run At Houston?

Dad’s already thinking about the role Emanuel Sharp would play on a potential preseason No. 1 UH team bringing in one of the top two freshmen classes in the nation in Chris Cenac Jr., Kingston Flemings, Isiah Harwell and the ever underrated Bryce Jackson, with Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year JoJo Tugler committed to returning (as PaperCity first reported more than a week ago), and transfer portal additions Pop Isaacs and Kalifa Sakho locked in.

“He’s going to be a senior,” Derrick Sharp says. “He’s been in the program the longest. He obviously played his role and what they needed. They’re definitely going to need more from him next year. He’d better prepare himself for that and be ready for the challenge.

“He’s definitely going to have bigger role as a leader on and off the court. It’s going to take a big summer for him to get ready for that.”

When his parents visited him this last weekend, Emanuel Sharp was already back on the court, working on his shot. The image of Emanuel Sharp hunched over, hands on his forehead as his teammates tried to console him and Florida’s orange and blue national championship confetti fell will be one of the enduring moments of this 2025 Final Four. There is no changing that. No redos.

“That’s the plan. But it’s all going to depend on how his plantar fasciitis is feeling.” — Derrick Sharp on Emanuel Sharp declaring for the NBA Draft to get pro feedback

Derrick Sharp understands this is part of sports. But he also knows it will not be the moment that defines his son.

“You’re playing a game you love where you’re going to have times when you’re not successful,” Derrick Sharp says. “We’re all human. He’s not a robot. And you’ve just got to learn from it and move on. There’s no reason to keep going back and wishing. You just move forward and learn from it and use it as fuel. That’s what we tell him.

“He’s the same player that he’s always been. He’s come through in moments like that in the past and you’re going to fail in this game. It’s like Michael Jordan saying he’s failed over and over again, that’s why he succeeded. I can remember Magic Johnson dribbling it out against the Celtics (in the 1984 NBA Finals). I can remember Kobe Bryant shooting airballs (four in the last five minutes of a playoff loss to Utah early in his Lakers career).

“There’s so many situations where players weren’t successful and then they came back and were successful.”

Derrick Sharp wants Emanuel Sharp to have that kind of moment in the 2026 Final Four in Indianapolis. But he’s also appreciative of all the moments his son already authored — the big threes Sharp hit to make that stunning comeback against Duke in the national semifinals possible. The shots he drained against Tennessee to turn back the Vols and push Houston to its second Final Four under Kelvin Sampson. The way he played in the Big 12 Tournament to walk away with that Most Outstanding Player wrestling-championship-like belt.

The Sharps are hoping their son gets the reaction they expect from UH fans when this remarkable 2024-25 University of Houston squad — one of Kelvin Sampson’s all-time favorite teams in 36 seasons as a head coach — is celebrated for what it did do (which is beyond plentiful) at the Fertitta Center on Wednesday night, April 23 (7 pm start with free admission and free parking in the garage across the street from the arena).

“Of course you want to get back and be in that situation again,” Derrick Sharp says. “Have a different outcome. And use it as fuel. He’s done that his whole life. There’s no way he’s going to change that.

“He’s going to keep working, keep praying and keep believing in himself. That’s all you can do in that situation. Use it as fuel and get in the gym, keep getting better.”

As Derrick Sharp talks to PaperCity, the Sharp family is driving back from their youngest son Noah Sharp’s fifth grade practice. The basketball keeps going on. You just keep hooping till your next chance on the big stage comes. Derrick Sharp and Justine Ellison Sharp did give their son one piece of advice on all that misguided social media furor though.

“Just stay off it,” Derrick Sharp laughs, marveling at the idea of having to play in the Twitter and Instagram age. “That’s the best thing to do and the easiest. Stay off it.”