1-On-1 With UNC Star Harrison Ingram;
Stanford Transfer Helping Heels Click (Part Two)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
In the aftermath of North Carolina’s disappointing 2022-23 season, in which the Tar Heels infamously went from the preseason #1 team to missing the NCAA Tournament, coach Hubert Davis had a long checklist of areas that needed improvement.
UNC, last in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 3-point shooting a year ago, desperately needed help in that category. Near the bottom of the league in assists, assist-turnover ratio and turnover margin, the Heels also were seeking players who were skilled, unselfish passers at the offensive end but also intense, disruptive forces on defense.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Carolina needed players who combined fearlessness (the last two Caleb Love-RJ Davis teams had plenty of that) with better on-court chemistry, more positive body language, and higher levels of emotional consistency, vibrant leadership and basketball IQ.
In Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram, the Heels found immediate, high-level help in every single one of those areas.
A 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward from Dallas, Texas, Ingram quickly has become the Tar Heels’ human Swiss army knife, someone whose offensive and defensive versatility have helped make this year’s Carolina team (17-4, 9-1 ACC entering its Feb. 3 game against Duke) one of the best in the entire country.
On offense, Ingram posts up against smaller opponents, slashes to the basket off the dribble, converts efficiently from 3-point range (40 percent), keeps possessions alive with offensive rebounds (top 10 in the ACC) and routinely finds open teammates.
On defense, Ingram is among the best in the ACC for both physical and mental reasons. He’s quick and athletic enough to defend most guards, long/strong enough to effectively battle most post players, and extremely savvy when it comes to defensive rebounding (top 10 in the ACC), body positioning and knowing his opponents’ tendencies, strengths and weaknesses.
Ingram’s wide array of talents must be seen to be fully appreciated, but they also show up on the stat sheet. He’s the Tar Heels’ third-leading scorer (12.1 points per game), second-leading rebounder (8.8 per game) and second-best 3-point shooter (36 makes; 40 percent). He also ranks first on the team in steals and fourth in blocked shots, and his assist-turnover ratio (52-32) ranks behind only ball-handling guards RJ Davis and Elliot Cadeau.
Ingram’s six double-doubles (points and rebounds) this season rank fourth in the league and further underline his versatility. The only ACC players with as many or more double-doubles are much taller and/or bigger guys: UNC’s Armando Bacot (6-11/240), Miami’s Norchad Omier (6-7/240), Duke’s Kyle Filipowski (7-0/248) and Boston College’s Quinten Post (7-0/235).
Ingram, who was a McDonald’s All-American in high school and helped Team USA to the FIBA U-19 World Cup gold medal in 2021, recently joined the David Glenn Show for a lengthy, 1-on-1 interview on the North Carolina Sports Network.
This is Part Two of that conversation. Part One can be found here.
DG: Except for the freshmen, every rotation player on this year’s UNC team experienced a major disappointment last season — not only the returnees, obviously, but also you at Stanford (14-19), Cormac Ryan at Notre Dame (11-21), Jae’Lyn Withers at Louisville (4-28). Do you believe the negativity you and those guys experienced last season, in different ways and even on different teams, contributed to the “chip on the shoulder” theme you, Coach Davis and many of your UNC teammates have talked about this season?
Ingram: 100 percent. I mean, I feel like that’s the biggest thing, the biggest advantage we have as a team.
All 14 guys, for every different reason, have a chip on their shoulder. We want to win, and we want to win bad! I mean, I’ve never played so hard.
I feel like the game that exemplifies that is the (Dec. 2) Florida State game. We came off two huge wins (over Arkansas and Tennessee), and — what do you call it? — it could have been a trap game, the big game after another big game before. We were down 14, maybe 15, after halftime, and we just figured out a way to win the game. It wasn’t my best shooting night. It wasn’t the team’s best shooting night. But we figured out a way to win the game, and I feel like that showed the chips on our shoulder that we have as a team.
Even Coach Davis. Coach Davis talks about it every day, how he still has a chip on his shoulder and how he’s not satisfied, because we haven’t really done anything yet. I mean, we’re top four in the country on every poll, but what does that really mean right now?
DG: In December, right after that FSU victory you mentioned, UNC lost back-to-back games to UConn and Kentucky, two of the other best teams in the country. Coach Davis specifically called out defense as an area that needed improvement, and especially rebounding, right after the UK loss. Both areas then got a lot better pretty quickly. How did that happen
Ingram: I mean, it starts in practice, where there’s a standard that Coach Davis, Coach Sully, Coach May, Coach Paige, Coach Frederick and Coach Lebo set for us.
There was a point, for a good three-week span (in practice), where if a guy … if I’m guarding Seth Trimble, and he gets an offensive rebound, my whole team is running. So it got to a point to where we were running all practice — I mean, running, up-and-downs. There was one practice I ran about 40 up-and-downs for not rebounding.
At the end of the day, we’re all athletes. We don’t like to get on the line and run. So the easiest way to make us rebound and play defense is to tell us, if you don’t do it, you’re gonna run.
DG: You mentioned after UNC’s game against NC State in Raleigh earlier this season that you had never seen so much hatred directed your way. I’m sure Saint Mark’s had rivals, and I know Stanford has rivals, and those fans probably weren’t very nice to you. So what was different about whatever the Wolfpack fans said or did?
Ingram: It’s hard to put it into words, but the best way I would put it is … I had never seen any of these people in my life, I just got here a couple months ago, and they knew everything about me. (Smiles.)
An hour before the game, I remember, I was shooting in the corner, I was getting my spot shots up, and some (Wolfpack) fans were behind me yelling out my ex-girlfriend’s name from middle school. (Shakes his head.) I was so confused. I was like, how do you … how could you possibly? I have a former teammate who’s on that (NC State) team in Michael O’Connell from Stanford, and he didn’t even know who she was. I don’t know how they knew that.
But, experiencing that, that’s why I came here (to UNC) — to play in front of the biggest crowds, on national television, and play with the best teammates.
DG: You seem to have the ability to rev yourself up whenever needed, but you also seem to have an even keel about you, so that the occasional hate from opposing fans doesn’t seem to bother you. How do you do both of those things?
Ingram: At the end of the day, this is all fun to me. This is my dream. I’m playing basketball at THE University of North Carolina.
This is still a dream to me. I feel like I’m in a video game, and this stuff isn’t really real. We’re getting all this gear, meeting famous people, winning games, playing on ESPN in front of thousands of people.
I can’t be mad. I really can’t think of a way for me to get mad about any of that.
DG: There were a couple of other unusual twists in that same win over State. At one point, you dove for a loose ball, and you landed on an older gentleman named Wendell Murphy, who happens to be one of the biggest Wolfpack athletics boosters in history. You later checked on him to make sure he wasn’t injured too badly. What happened there?
Ingram: At the start, I didn’t know who he was — when I hit him, or even before the game. I had no idea until after the game.
(In terms of) going over there to talk with (Murphy) later, Coach Davis kind of gives us the freedom to be myself on the court. That’s another thing I really love. Whether it’s talking smack to the opponents, or debating with the ref a little bit for a call but not going too far, or going to talk to a fan that I accidentally hit, he gives me the freedom to make my own decisions.
So I decided it was best to go over and make sure (Murphy) was OK. I knew it was an old guy, and at the end of the day, it’s just a game. Life’s bigger than basketball.
Hearing about it after, I figured out who he was. After the game, Armando shows me this TikTok, and it was like a TikTok of some NC State fans saying that I’m gonna go to jail for the rest of my life, and he’s gonna sue me for all my money, and I’m never gonna be able to play another game. (Laughs.) It was funny, realizing who he was.
I haven’t been in touch with him, but I talked to one of our guys in the (basketball) office, and I’m gonna try to get lunch with (Murphy) sometime.
DG: Near the end of the NC State game, with a UNC victory already assured, you were at the free throw line. You missed your first attempt, and the crowd started going crazy before your second attempt. Most in the building, including anyone looking up at the video board, realized that free chicken sandwiches were a possibility because of an ongoing Chick-fil-A promotion. At that time, did you have any idea what was going on?
Ingram: See, the funny thing is, I didn’t know that (promotion) was a thing. I don’t know why, but I never knew that, if the visiting team misses two straight free throws, everyone gets free stuff.
So I’m at the free throw line, and I’m like, OK. Coach Davis looks at me, and he’s like, “One more point, and you have a double-double.” So, I’m like, OK, I have two free throws, and I just need to make one.
So I’m at the line, and I remember, I missed the first one, and they’re cheering. Then I hear them booing, and I remember we were up by 15, and there’s, like, 10 seconds left. I’m like, why are they booing? Why do they care about these free throws? And I miss it, and everyone starts cheering, and I’m like, oh my God!
Then, I get off the court, and they tell me they got free Chick-fil-A. Then, I was like, OK, that makes sense, that makes sense.
Then, actually, the next day, a pretty funny story is, Eric Hoots calls me. He’s our director of player operations. He calls me, and he’s like, “Thank you.” I was like, “Thank you for what?” He turns his FaceTime camera around, and it’s like him and the whole coaching staff in for the free lunch, and they all have chicken sandwiches and all this stuff. (Smiles.) I’m like, oh my God. I hung up immediately. (Laughs.)
DG: You grabbed 19 rebounds at NC State, and that was the most for any UNC player in the history of that rivalry. That would be an impressive accomplishment at any school, against any opponent, but you just did it for one of the most famous programs in NCAA basketball history. You may not know the entire history of Carolina basketball yet, but I’m sure you know a lot of Hall of Famers have played for the Tar Heels. With that in mind, what do those sorts of records mean to you?
Ingram: It just means the world to me. First of all, just to be here in the first place.
But to set a record at a school like this, where Michael Jordan went, Vince Carter, Tyler Hansbrough. You can name my teammate right now, Armando Bacot; Armando is the best rebounder in history here. For me to just beat him out in a game for rebounds is another thing, in itself, but to do it at NC State, it was a blessing.
I just kinda try to find ways to win. I’ve been dealing with a little wrist sprain the last few weeks, since the Kentucky game, so I feel like my shots haven’t been falling at the clip that they were. So I’m trying to figure out ways to help my team, whether that’s guarding the best player or going to get every rebound.
Whatever we need to do to win, I’ll do.
DG: I can’t let you go without asking about Duke, because the Carolina-Duke rivalry is one of the best in all of sports. That sister you mentioned earlier, Lauren, is a volleyball player for the Blue Devils. Your parents must be incredibly proud of both of you, but how is it going to work in your family when the Devils and the Heels resume this great rivalry in February and March?
Ingram: As a family, first off, we’re really close. I mean, we talk with each other every single day, on our family group chat or a FaceTime call or whatever.
Usually, every week, I’ll take my sister out to dinner. But I told her that, during the months of February and March, when we play Duke, we will not be going to dinner, we’re not friends.
She told me that she hopes I have a great game, but that she hopes that Duke wins. So I’m like, that’s cool, you can cheer for whoever you want, but just know that when we come to Duke, we are going to win. I promise you, we are going to win.
DG: I have read that you sweat so profusely during games that, while you were being recruited, you told every school that you would require two complete uniforms for every game. True?
Ingram: That’s 100 percent the truth.
I did it at Stanford, too. I actually changed, not just my jersey, I changed everything — underwear, undershirt, socks. I completely changed … ah, not socks. Everything but socks, I changed completely. Everything.
That’s partially because I sweat a lot; that’s kinda how I was made. I like to play hard, too, diving on the floor. So I never really stop moving. I’ve always sweat a lot.
Coach Davis came to my house (during recruiting), and I told him that. They were like, “done.” (Smiles.) So I guess I’m coming! (Laughs.)
DG: You turned 21 years old earlier this season. For many, that’s not merely just another birthday. Among other things, you’re allowed to enter certain places, or do certain things, legally in a way that you couldn’t in the past. Did you do anything special back in November, or does that sort of stuff have to wait until after the season?
Ingram: I haven’t really celebrated it yet, because we’re in-season.
I’m definitely gonna … you know, me and my best friends, after the season is over, hopefully after we get a national championship, I’m probably gonna go to Las Vegas. I gotta go to Las Vegas with the friends and kinda see what happens.
Turning 21, to me, I turned right after the Bahamas tournament. We had a pretty solid tournament there; we got third place. We shoulda got first, but we lost.
I kinda celebrated with my parents. They came back to school. I got a drink with my mom. That was crazy; I never thought that day would come. Other than that, it was just another birthday.
DG: Do you view yourself as a two-year player for the Tar Heels, or are you going to look at your professional options at the end of this season?
Ingram: I haven’t even really thought about that, honestly. Since I got here, I’ve just kinda really focused on basketball. I don’t have an agent or anything like that. I’m just focused on the season and doing the best I can to try and win a championship.
DG: You mentioned the honor of wearing the Carolina Blue. Only so many people also get asked to wear the red, white and blue and represent our country. What did it mean to you to be able to help the United States to the gold medal at the FIBA U-19 World Cup back in 2021?
Ingram: That was an amazing experience. Those guys, to this day, are still some of my best friends. Kennedy (Chandler), Chet (Holmgren), all of them. We’re still tight to this day.
Another thing that was really interesting about that time is that it was during COVID. So we were doing all of this during COVID.
When we were in Latvia, for the whole time we were there, we couldn’t leave our hotel for the whole month! We couldn’t leave at all. It was pretty tough mentally. My parents were there, but I couldn’t see them the whole month. I couldn’t see anybody I knew the whole month.
It was just us and the team, for literally 30 days straight. So we got really close with the coaches, the players. And then winning that national — I would say global — winning that global championship was something I can’t really equate to anything else I’ve done in my life.
DG: You’re a lot of fun to talk to, Harrison, but we’ll end it there. Thank you very much for this extended visit. We really appreciate your time.
Ingram: Yes, sir. Thank you so much for having me.
