Jamal Shead is living proof that you can always come back home.

The Manor High School basketball legend just wasn’t sticking around for long.

Shead is stalking a fourth straight conference title and wants to finish his college career as the first Houston Cougars point guard to lead the program to a national championship. The hard-charging Cougar is also the latest example of what drives the elite programs in college basketball. It's a tried and true method for winning.

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There will always be young phenoms who show up for a year before taking their wares to the pros, but programs that employ experienced point guards like Shead are the ones sticking around late in the NCAAs.

If the man with the ball has tournament experience, his team is often the one advancing.

“Shead is tough,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said after Monday night's 76-72 overtime loss to Shead and Co. at Moody Center. “He’s a tough-minded guard who knows what winning is all about.”

Shead is 6 feet 1 but plays much bigger. Besides the obvious physical skills, he has that little something that can often raise a team to a higher level at critical moments. It’s that indomitable will shared only by the elites in the sport, and not even the best players are always able to summon that trait on a consistent basis.

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Take the second half of the Texas game, for instance. The Cougars were having their way in the half, but the  Longhorns, desperate for a signature win, put together a nice run to take a 54-48 lead with about eight minutes remaining.

After coach Kelvin Sampson called a timeout, his most experienced player encouraged teammates to stay focused in the hostile environment.

Then Shead went to work.

In crunch time, leadership and experience are keys

He knocked down consecutive 3-pointers, then followed Emanuel Sharpe’s triple with a running bank shot as 30 relatives and friends — including Texas football player Jahdae Barron, a childhood buddy — shouted encouragement his way.

Shead finished with 25 points and provided the latest example of how leadership and experience at the guard position are so important at this level of the game.

He not only overcame the most energetic home crowd for a Texas game this season, but also delivered in his first game back in Austin, something that probably would not have happened had the Cougars not joined the Big 12.

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“I tried my best to just treat it as the next game,” Shead said. "(Sampson) preaches never to focus on anything ahead. Our next game at the time was Texas. So we just try to stay focused. And you know during the game, once you're in it, you don't worry about it being your hometown. You try to win for your teammates.”

An underrated, but not undervalued, star

When asked what was discussed during that timeout, Sampson couldn’t even give specifics as to what words were spoken. Reason being, he has a veteran ballclub led by one of the best point guard leaders in the country. He did mention that he wasn’t too pleased that Shead went for a contested 3-pointer instead of the drive at the end of regulation.

“I think if Mal had that back, he would gotten it in the paint somehow,” Sampson said.

Still, he wouldn’t trade any point guard in the country for Shead, who has been part of three conference championships and 107 wins, the third-most in program history. He’s not a volume scorer, as evidenced by his 12.3 points per game, but is in the midst of the best scoring stretch of his career, averaging 19.4 points over his last five games. That includes a career-high 29 points in a win over Texas Tech.

At a more high-profile school like North Carolina or Kansas, he might get a few more headlines, but the H-town tape doesn’t lie. Just ask his coach.

“It doesn't matter who you play or what league you play in if you’re a good player,” Sampson said. “Steve Nash went to Santa Clara. (Kawhi) Leonard went to San Diego State. There's great players in every conference in America. It doesn't matter what the conference is. The players make the conference, not the conference that makes the players.”

From dreaming of Texas to playing Texas

As a kid growing up 15 minutes from the UT campus, Shead dreamed of one day running the Texas offense as Longhorns legend T.J. Ford did in leading the program to its only Final Four appearance in 2003. But he had doubts that he was good enough to play at the Division I level.

That changed when he led Manor to the UIL state tournament in 2019 and a regional final his senior year. Houston immediately showed interest, but then-Texas coach Shaka Smart didn’t offer him a scholarship.

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Perhaps Smart could have moved some things around on the roster, but he didn’t. He already had talented guards Matt Coleman, Courtney Ramey and Andrew Jones. Shead was told the Horns had only one scholarship left, and that went to Vandegrift's Greg Brown III, an explosive 6-foot-8 guard who chose the Horns over a blue-blood recruiting list that included Kentucky and Michigan.

On Monday, Shead took the diplomatic approach when asked about that time, saying that Texas was right to award Brown the scholarship.

“It wasn’t any bad blood,” Shead said. “It was just unfortunate that they didn’t have any more scholarships. It was the right situation for me here. One school that really showed interest in me was Houston, which believed in me first, and they got me. Texas is a really good school that I grew up around, but Houston is home for me.”

Shead has been on an upward arc since his storied high school career. After averaging 10 minutes a game for the Coogs’ Final Four team in 2021, he took over the point guard reins and led the program to an Elite Eight bid.

More: Texas basketball fans bring unforgettable atmosphere to Moody Center in loss to Houston

Now a veteran of 122 games — including 92 starts — Shead has earned a reputation as one of the most hard-nosed, clutch players in the game. He delivers better than Amazon and is at his best in prime time.

Ford loved how Shead handled all the pressure that went into him leading a national title contender to a tough win in his homecoming.

“For him being an Austin kid and not playing here before in this amazing atmosphere, he showed a lot of poise and composure,” Ford said. “He’s an experienced leader and one of those elite players. He knows what he’s doing out there.”

There is plenty of ball left in the regular season, but the Cougars (19-2, 6-2), who will face No. 8 Kansas in Lawrence on Saturday, are a sexy pick to win it all.  Shead projects as a second-round NBA draft pick who could make a fine living as a backup floor leader if he chooses. If he doesn’t make it in the league, he could make a boatload overseas.

For now, the focus is on making money plays in college.

And for anyone who doubts Houston’s odds of making another great tourney run, take a look at the guy with the ball.

As long as Jamal Shead is running the show, don’t bet against the Cougars.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Golden: Manor's Jamal Shead has Cougars rolling in the Big 12