At Fort Erie International Academy in Fort Erie, Ontario, the 6’5″ shooting guard is set to start his final year of school.
Ishan Sharma, an Indo-Canadian basketball player, thinks he will “fit in well” at UVA “both on and off the court.” And for the 2024 recruiting class, that was a major factor in his decision to commit to the university’s basketball team. About to start his final year at Fort Erie International Academy in Fort Erie, Ontario, is the 6’5 shooting guard.
With a strong summer with UPLAY Canada on the Nike EYBL Circuit, where he shot 44.8 percent from deep, Sharma joins the Cavaliers, according to CavsCorner.com, a website about the Cavaliers’ basketball and football recruiting. He has represented Canada in FIBA tournaments. “With his shooting skills and defensive abilities, he could be a valuable asset for the Cavaliers,” according to BVM Sports.
More than 40 years of covering UVA Athletics have led Jerry Ratcliffe to describe Sharma as “a catch-and-shoot guard who can fire off the dribble and create his own shot when defenders overplay him.” He makes wise choices when deploying ball screens and has a high basketball IQ.”
The University of Virginia coaches, Sharma told CavsCorner.com, really impressed him. “I was really recruited by Coach Bennett, Coach (Orlando) Vandross, and Coach (Johnny) Carpenter, and they have been really consistent with me,” the player stated. “It really struck me that everyone there is so humble.” He expressed that he truly believes he “fits in well, both on and off the court.” The program will “help me become the best player and person I can be,” he said, recalling how much he “really enjoyed what they had to say” when he first met the players.
The young player averaged 10.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game while playing for Canada in the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup and the 2021 FIBA U16 Americas. Sharma shot 16 of 36 from beyond the arc and scored 28 points in one game (8 of 14 from the field, including five 3-pointers) during his UPLAY team’s five-game Peach Jam run. In the Lighthouse Classic Prep Challenge against The Rock School (Florida), he scored a game-high 34 points.
When Sharma was four or five years old, he started playing basketball. When he was in third grade, he played basketball for the Milton community’s Halton Basketball team for the first time. He told prospectiveinsight.com that after that, he “just worked really hard playing for them for a long time.” However, after “COVID happened,” he discovered UPLA. “Some exposure and met some people who have helped me get to where I am today” was what he gained there.
Sharma’s older brother Aryan plays basketball. He is a player in the Canadian Elite Basketball League right now for the Montreal Alliance. alliance real. “The best advice” that his older brother gave was shared by the younger brother. “At every opportunity, regardless of the person in front of you, the situation, the type of game—be it a preseason or championship game—always consider your opponent and go for the kill every single time.”
The “ability to shoot the ball in catch-and-shoot situations, off-the-dribble situations, live-ball situations, and also create my own shot when defenders overplay me” is Sharma’s “biggest strength,” he told the website. Ice plays with “a lot of skill” and “a high IQ for the game.” This enables him to “make the right read every time I touch the ball and use ball screens as well as decide whether to be a primary or secondary ball handler.” Those are my strong points, then.
“To inspire people, especially young kids who are of Indian or South Asian descent, to maybe look at me and see something that they want to do and see that it is possible,” is his stated goal in using basketball as a platform. To be honest, at the end of the day, all I can hope for is that they will be able to see me and realize that I am capable of doing the same.”
