The 7-5 center spent only one season at Oxford and finished his college career as one of the most prolific shot blockers in NCAA history.
Although 7-5 center Jamarion Sharp was not selected in the 2024 NBA Draft, he will have a chance to forge a career in the league. Sharp opted to join the NBA’s runner-up Dallas Mavericks for Summer League competition shortly after the draft.
Sharp and his Ole Miss teammate Allen Flanigan previously competed in the 70th annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (P.I.T.) in Portsmouth, Virginia, alongside prospective pro prospects and in front of pro scouts. Despite scoring only seven points (2-for-5 FG), he recorded a tournament-high 12 blocks. In his second game of the tournament, he went on a defensive clinic, tallying five blocks and four steals.
Sharp finished his undergraduate career with a 17.3 block percentage, one of the finest in NCAA history. His career average of 3.73 blocks per game ranks 21st all-time in NCAA history. His 354 career blocks are tied for 53rd all-time in NCAA history.
Sharp played only one season in Oxford after attending Western Kentucky and Logan A. College. He started the first 15 games of the season before being one of the first players off the bench to replace Moussa Cisse, who had to wait for an NCAA waiver to make his Rebel debut. His 75 blocks at the end of the season led all SEC programs and was third in Ole Miss history. On Jan. 10, he returned nine of those blocks, the first coming off the bench and setting Ole Miss’ single-game record. In Chris Beard’s first season as head coach, the Rebels finished 20-12 overall and 7-11 in the SEC.
He started all 32 games during his senior season at Western Kentucky. While scoring 7.5 points per game, he averaged nearly eight rebounds per game and blocked a total of (nation-leading) 131 shots (4.1 per game) in one season, along with 32 steals. He averaged 28.6 minutes per game and surpassed WKU’s career block record in only 50 games. Sharp was awarded C-USA Defensive Player of the Year at the end of the season, as well as to the C-USA All-Defensive Team and C-USA All-Conference teams, and he was named to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and Karen Abdul Jabbar watch lists. Sharp also received the CollegeInsider.com Zelmo Beaty Award.
Sharp appeared in all 32 games during his debut season at WKU, starting 28 of them. Offensively, he averaged 8.4 points per game and shot over 73%. He also averaged 7.6 rebounds and nearly five blocked shots each game. His block total reached 148. For reference, WKU’s single-season shot block record was 97, with 10 of those coming in a single game.
