UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis' advice for Harrison Ingram ahead of NCAA Tournament

CHARLOTTE – While breaking down film ahead of March Madness and the NCAA Tournament, UNC basketball’s Harrison Ingram received some words of advice and encouragement from head coach Hubert Davis. 

“Be more aggressive,” Ingram said Wednesday ahead of open practice for the top-seeded Tar Heels (27-7) at Spectrum Center in Charlotte. 

“(Davis) wants me to be more aggressive going to the rim and looking for my shot more.” 

It’s something UNC will need if it hopes to make a deep run in the West Region. The journey starts Thursday (2:45 p.m., CBS) against No. 16 seed Wagner (17-15). 

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“Harrison’s just a huge piece for us on both ends of the floor. … His ability to score in many different ways is a huge factor for us. We just gotta find some ways to be able to get him more looks around the basket – getting to the basket, getting to the free-throw line,” Davis said. 

“I feel like over the last 2-3 weeks, a majority of his shots have been from 3. He can really shoot the basketball, but I think his gift offensively is his versatility. So, those are things that we have talked about, those are things that we have worked on in practice.”

Ingram is averaging 12.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, but those numbers have dipped during the latest five-game stretch. In that stretch, Ingram is averaging 10 points on 33.8% shooting, including 22.5% from beyond the arc, and 8.6 rebounds. 

In two of those games, Ingram attempted at least eight 3-pointers. He did that twice in the Tar Heels' first 29 games.

But Armando Bacot, UNC’s double-double machine, isn’t worried about Ingram. 

“I think Harrison’s a unique player, because his impact isn’t always just scoring. The way he can defend, get rebounds, me and him are kind of a similar guy,” Bacot said. 

“Our impact can be greater than just scoring. If he comes in with the mindset that, ‘I’m just gonna play harder than everybody,’ everything will take care of itself.” 

Like Bacot, Ingram isn’t lacking confidence. The encouragement from Davis has the Stanford transfer ready for his first March Madness experience. 

“Coach Davis does a great job of giving us confidence and instilling confidence in us; he believes in us,” Ingram said.

“We’ll be on the perimeter and our head coach is telling us, ‘Go to work.’ Who doesn’t want to hear that from their head coach?”

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached atrbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.