Ingram: 'It’s Exactly What I Dreamed Of'

CHAPEL HILL – It was everything Harrison Ingram imagined, and perhaps more.

A former player at Stanford, which he chose out of high school over North Carolina, Ingram finally played in a UNC-Duke game Saturday night, and he had a blast.

“It’s exactly what I dreamed of,” he said following the Tar Heels’ 93-84 victory over the Blue Devils. “Me and my brother were talking about it last night. This is what we talked about, playing in the UNC-Duke game; I mean the biggest stage against a really, really good team with really, really good players. Great coach. And we got the dub (win).”

Ingram visited UNC as a high school prospect, and it just so happened to be Carolina’s wild 98-96 overtime loss to Duke in February of 2020. He sat in the front row along the baseline near UNC’s bench for that one, and he loved the experience.

Saturday, he got to play in front of some other highly touted prospects taking in the game for their first time, perhaps infusing them with visions of one day being on that stage, as Ingram thought about a lot the last few days.

So, when he woke up Saturday morning, it wasn’t any old day, it was Carolina-Duke day, yet Ingram went about it as normally as he could.

“I got my (hair) twist, I made my bed this morning, I was locked in, ready to go,” said Ingram, who says he makes his bed every morning. “I was just happy. My dad before the game, I was talking, and he said, ‘play your game, have fun. The most important thing is to have fun,’ and I went out there, had fun, played hard with my teammates.”

Good times were aplenty for Ingram and the third-ranked Heels (18-4, 10-1 ACC), as they shot 50 percent from the floor, outrebounded the Devils, and routinely turned Duke mistakes into UNC rewards, with Ingram somewhat leading the way.

He finished with 21 points, his high as a Tar Heel, to go with 13 rebounds, a steal, and four blocked shots. The 6-foot-7 Dallas native was all over the place. On the floor, in the air, celebrating like only he can, and pumping mega juice into his teammates and the packed house at the Smith Center with seemingly every step he took.

Ingram knew he had to bring it, not just because of the opponent and stage, but he has a personal standard, to which he did not live up to in UNC’s loss at Georgia Tech last Tuesday.

“I watched the Georgia Tech game about five times, and usually I’m the guy that brings energy, and I didn’t bring it,” he said. “And I wasn’t going to come out here and let that happen again. So, I came out with as much energy as I could. I got like 10 hours of sleep last night, and I was ready to go.”

Ready to go for his first taste of playing in a Carolina-Duke game, and to lift the Tar Heels to yet another victory.