Harrison Ingram, a junior forward for UNC basketball, had 13 points at the half in the team’s 79-70 victory over visiting rival NC State in the Smith Centre on Saturday. He had shot 5-for-5 from the field. His total from the team’s two previous games—seven in the victory against Virginia and eight in the victory at home over Miami—had nearly matched.
The versatile bruiser, standing at 6 feet 7 inches and weighing 225 pounds, added nine more in the second half. With a season-high 22 points, he helped the No. 9 Tar Heels (23-6, 15-3 ACC) overcome a 45-37 halftime deficit against the unranked Wolfpack (17-12, 9-9 ACC) to take a 42-25 lead into the half. This victory kept the Tar Heels alone atop the conference rankings.
During his 35 minutes on the court, Ingram finished with 8 for 14 field goals, 2 for 5 three-pointers, and 4 for 4 long shots. He also added six rebounds and two steals.
“I don’t think [State] had anyone on the court — I don’t want to sound cocky — but that was suited to guard me,” the 21-year-old Stanford transfer, who recorded a career-high 19 boards in UNC’s victory over NC State on January 10, said in the postgame interview. “They had a tall four-man unit. They were acting as sentinels. They were making complete switches.
Third-year UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis had nothing but praise for Harrison Ingram during his postgame presser, noting that “Harrison was Harrison today.”
“All we were doing was trying to capitalise on the mismatch. Their switching caused me to frequently post up and go into ball screens.”
