First-team All America honors in his team's first season in the Big 12 Conference - in which the Coogs finished first place. But we've learned his first taste of this program years ago laid the foundation for this success.
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"We didn't need him his freshman year," Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson recalled. "We didn't recruit him to play his freshman year."
And Shead, despite being a 4-star recruit out of Manor High School, didn't play much as a freshman. He averaged less than 10 minutes a game during the 2020-21 season. The guards playing in front of him: Quentin Grimes, Marcus Sasser and DeJon Jarreau are all in the NBA.
"When things were really tough, he didn't quit," Sampson recalled about Shead's freshman season. "He didn't transfer. He wasn't looking for a reason to leave. And I thank his mother and father for that."
"That's a compliment from Coach Sampson, but we were just being parents," Elvin Shead, Jamal's father, told ABC13 in Memphis.
Elvin and Lysa Shead tell us they still send their son messages on game day. However, it was the message they shared during Jamal's freshman year that may have impacted the UH program most.
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"In Jamal's eyes, he just felt he was ready to play at that point," Elvin shared. "But it wasn't his turn. So he had to learn patience, a little bit of humility and just keep working."
"We believed in the Sampsons," Lysa noted. "They became like family. So, we encouraged Jamal to just trust the process, and he did."
Three years later, Shead is one of the most-successful and most-decorated players to ever wear a Coogs jersey.
"We knew that at some point he was going to be special," Lysa admitted. "We just didn't know how special. So, this is fun. We are enjoying the ride, and we just want him to be happy - that's the ultimate goal."
And head coach Kelvin Sampson is thrilled the Shead family is part of his program.
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"Jamal didn't have anybody to call home and cry to or listen to excuses," Sampson said of Shead's freshman campaign. "His mom and dad are unusual in that say the coach is always right."
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