UNC’s Harrison Ingram Admits Some Players Overslept Before Upset Loss to Clemson

If it looked like North Carolina was sleepwalking early in its loss to Clemson, there’s a good reason for it.

North Carolina is on top of the ACC with a 18–5 record and 10–2 mark in conference play, but early on in Tuesday’s home loss to Clemson, the team looked like it was sleepwalking. 

That is closer to the truth than one might think, based on comments from forward Harrison Ingram after the game.

The Tar Heels fell way behind early on, and faced a 15–2 deficit just three-and-a-half minutes into the first half. The team would mount a comeback but fell short, losing 80–76. It was UNC’s first loss at the Dean Dome this season.

After the game, Ingram revealed that some players were late to warmups because they “slept in” during their pregame naps.

“Most people will take naps before the game,” Ingram said. “I feel like we just weren’t ready to go. Some people slept in. We were getting taped and people were just late. That just can’t happen. I feel like that showed in the game. That was one of the first games we were late. We came out slow, energy in warmups was slow, energy at halftime, everything just wasn’t the same.”

Bad practice, bad shoot around, too bad it wasnt a bad dream. #UNC literally doesn't wake up for an 80-76 loss to Clemson. Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram explain why the team was late for warmups. pic.twitter.com/kr7KPqcYAV

— Pat Welter WRAL (@PatrickWelter) February 7, 2024

Center Armando Bacot, a fifth-year senior and the team’s leader, had a similar take on the team’s approach to the game over the last few days.

“Just too casual. In practice, we didn’t come out how we wanted to,” Bacot said. “Our practices, we going full-on, all-out, and they just haven’t been that good these last two days. And shootaround today, we had a bad shootaround. Even in warmups today, we didn’t get out there on time. Our approach coming up to this game, It just wasn’t what it needed to be and we got what we deserved.”

North Carolina has looked dominant for long stretches of the season, winning 10 straight games from Dec. 20 (81–69 over then-No. 7 Oklahoma) and Jan. 27 at Florida State. Nine of those wins came by double digits.

Since that run, the Tar Heels have lost two of three games, with fairly puzzling defeats to Georgia Tech and Clemson bookending a nine-point win over archrival Duke.