CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina forward Harrison Ingram met with the media Tuesday afternoon at the Smith Center in advance of the No. 17 Tar Heels’ home game versus 10th-ranked Tennessee on Wednesday night.
Ingram fielded questions for about 12 minutes about a variety of things, including what was learned from the trip to The Bahamas, the meshing process for the team, who the leaders are on the floor, how loud Cormac Ryan is, and his own game, including the old-man element to it.
Above is video of Ingram’s Q&A session, and below are some notes and quotes from what he had to say:
*Meshing on the floor has been a consistent topic since before the season started. With five transfers, two freshmen, and only four returning scholarship players on the roster, the Tar Heels have acknowledged it will take time for them to fully bind on the floor. Ingram said three games in three days, two versus Villanova and Arkansas, pushed that process forward quite a bit.
“I definitely think The Bahamas helped, not just on the court, but also off the court,” Ingram said. “We were there three days early, we did some stuff with some little kids, we went to the water part. We just hung out as a team and with our coaching staff.”
He said the off-the-court stuff has been really helpful with this team having so many new parts. And that, “you always play better with your friends, and I would say that, in general, everybody on this team, we’re all good friends. We all hang out, we all text each other, we’re all active in the group chat, we all know a lot about each other. And I really feel like The Bahamas helped with that.”
*Tennessee prides itself on playing a physical brand of basketball, much like Villanova, which beat the Tar Heels by two points in overtime last week in The Bahamas. The Volunteers might be more rugged, and better defensively using its brute-like approach.
“We know it’s going to be a physical game. We know they have eight, nine really good players, a deep team. We know it will be physical on defense, physical on offense, and ready to go. Because they’re coming in trying to beat us, coming off two losses in Maui against two good teams. But still, two losses. So, they’re going to be motivated.”
*Ingram is gaining personal comfort within the offense, as so many aspects of his game was on display last week, and it never looked forced.
He scored 49 points shooting 16-for-30 from the floor, including 8-for-13 from 3-point range, handed out 11 assists against five turnovers. Not offense, but Ingram also had two 10-rebound games.
He did say, though, when asked if there’s something that can happen early in a game that makes him get into the flow and intensity of the game.
“For me, it’s just an energy play, like a steal or a charge, or I don’t know, someone screaming,” he said. “Like Cormac, somebody just screaming gets me going.”
*As a result of being more comfortable and playing with guys who are more talented than those whom he played with at Stanford, Ingram says one reason he’s shooting better from the field (49.2 percent) and the perimeter (49.0 percent) on the season, is the quality of shots he’s getting.
As we have discussed and written about many times, including quite a bit before the season started, having more catch-and-shoot threes is crucial for Ingram.
“I’m not having to take so many off-the-dribble shots that I took, last-second shot clock. We don’t really get to last-second shot clock because we play so fast. But in general, I’m not really taking last-second threes, I’m more aggressive towards the rim, and then most of the threes I’m taking are catch-and-shoot step-in threes.”
*One thing about Ingram’s game that has been a bit of a surprise is his energy and the intensity with which he plays. Ingram infuses teammates with a ton of juice on the court, but acknowledges he’s not that off the court.
“Definitely as the beginning in practice they were a little surprised, but I think that’d kind of just become who I am, and they’re kind of used to that. But for me, I just feel like everyone on our team has something to prove, and I have a chip on my shoulder the whole year. I’m locked in and have something to prove the entire year.”
*In addition, he spoke about Cormac Ryan, called RJ Davis a “bucket,” having an old man game, backing in defenders, and more.
