Donte Ingram (born August 15, 1996) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Donar Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Loyola Ramblers The Loyola Ramblers (also called the Loyola Chicago Ramblers) are the varsity sports teams of Loyola University Chicago. Most teams compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference, which the school joined in 2022 after leaving the Missouri Valley Confere ...

. Before Loyola, he attended

Simeon Career Academy Neal F. Simeon Career Academy (formerly known as Westcott Vocational High School, Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School, Neal F. Simeon Career Technical Academy), locally known simply as Simeon, is a public four-year vocational high school locate ...

and was teammates with

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player

Jabari Parker Jabari Ali Parker (born March 15, 1995) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the second overall pick in the ...

. Ingram drew national attention after helping the 2017–18 Ramblers reach the Final Four round of the 2018 NCAA tournament. He was named to the second-team All-

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

as a senior.

Early life and high school

Ingram was born on August 15, 1996. He is the son of Don Ingram, who played basketball in the Marines, and grew up in

Danville, Illinois Danville is a city in and the county seat of Vermilion County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 33,027. As of 2019, the population was an estimated 30,479. History The area that is now Danville was once home to the Miami, K ...

. In middle school he competed in

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

(AAU) play for Team Trouble, alongside future

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

player

Jordan Caroline Jordan Caroline (born January 15, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Baxi Manresa of the Liga ACB. He played college basketball for the Southern Illinois Salukis and the Nevada Wolf Pack. Early life and high school career Ca ...

. He attended Danville High School for two seasons. He competed in AAU for Mean Streets, and

, who played on a different AAU team, convinced him to transfer to

in Chicago. As a junior, Ingram was utilized as the

sixth man The sixth man in basketball is a player who is not a starter but comes off the bench much more often than other reserves, often being the first player to be substituted in. The sixth man often plays minutes equal to or exceeding some of the sta ...

on the Class 4A state championship team. Due to residency issues, Ingram was declared ineligible by the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

on January 15 but was reinstated on February 5.

Milton Doyle Milton Doyle (born October 31, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Tasmania JackJumpers of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for the Loyola Ramblers. College career A graduate of Chicago's ...

, a native of Chicago, persuaded Ingram to come to Loyola (Illinois) after receiving a scholarship offer from

Hampton University Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...

. One of the reasons Ingram picked the team is because his older brother DaJuan Gouard, who is now a community college coach, played for a

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

championship in 2002 with the Ramblers.

College career

When Ingram arrived at Loyola, the team had had three straight losing seasons, but he liked coach

Porter Moser Porter Andrew Moser (born August 24, 1968) is a college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the University of Oklahoma Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball, men's basketball team. Moser spent 10 years (2011–2021) at Loyola University ...

and the "family" feel of the program. He was an important piece of the 2014–15 Loyola Ramblers team that won the

2015 College Basketball Invitational The 2015 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was a single-elimination tournament of 16 NCAA Division I teams that did not participate in the NCAA tournament or the NIT. The opening games and the quarterfinals were held in mid-March on the home ...

as a freshman, averaging 5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. As a sophomore, he posted 7.4 points per game. His best game that year was a 19-point performance against

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

on March 3, 2016. Ingram sprained his

MCL The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3) ...

in early December 2016 but recovered quickly. On December 17, he had 20 points and nine rebounds in an 81–75 win over UIC and hit the three-pointer to send the game to overtime. Ingram set career highs with 30 points and 10 rebounds in a 102–98 loss to

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

on December 29. He improved his scoring average to 13.6 points per game as a junior and added 6.6 rebounds per game. Ingram led the conference in three point shooting with 47.3 percent and was named to the Third Team All-

. As a senior, Ingram averaged 11.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He was named to the Second team All-Missouri Valley Conference. Ingram was an important contributor to Loyola's 10–1 start, the best in 52 years, which included an upset of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He contributed 18 points and eight rebounds in the final of the 2018 Missouri Valley tournament against

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a Public university, public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is reco ...

and was named most outstanding player. With the win, Loyola reached its first NCAA tournament since 1985. The Ramblers received an 11 seed, and in the Round of 64, Ingram hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer on a pass from

Marques Townes Marques Townes (born September 3, 1995) is a Dominican-American basketball player for Kecskeméti TE of the Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A, the top division in Hungary. He played college basketball for the Loyola Ramblers, after beginning his career wi ...

to defeat

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

64–62 and finished with 13 points. He led Loyola on an improbable run to its first Final Four since 1963, scoring 12 points in the Elite Eight win against

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

. He received some media attention when a message from

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Bennett released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' in 2012. He ...

prompted him to open a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account. After the season Ingram signed with Edge Sports International in preparation for the

2018 NBA draft The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including inte ...

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", Loyola (Ill.) , 37 , , 1 , , 18.3 , , .447 , , .373 , , .645 , , 3.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;", Loyola (Ill.) , 32 , , 26 , , 25.9 , , .394 , , .281 , , .843 , , 4.1 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 7.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;", Loyola (Ill.) , 28 , , 29 , , 32.6 , , .529 , , .458 , , .676 , , 6.8 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.2 , , 13.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Loyola (Ill.) , 38 , , 38 , , 30.6 , , .443 , , .392 , , .680 , , 6.4 , , 1.6 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 11.0 , - , colspan=13 style="text-align:center;" , Source: RealGM

Professional career

Ingram worked out with several teams in preparation for the NBA draft and was praised for his size, versatility, shooting and defense. Despite going undrafted, he was signed by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

to an NBA Summer League roster. In five games in the Las Vegas Summer League, Ingram averaged 6.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game, shooting .312 from the field. His best game came in the fourth game against the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

where he finished with 13 points, four assists and two rebounds. He signed with the Mavericks on October 8, 2018. He was waived three days later. He was then added to the roster of the

Texas Legends The Texas Legends are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Frisco, Texas, and are affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legends play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team began as the Colorado 14 ...

, the Mavericks’

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

affiliate. On the season, Ingram appeared in 43 games for the Legends, averaging 3.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. For the 2019–20 season, Ingram was acquired by the Hornets'

affiliate, the

Greensboro Swarm The Greensboro Swarm are an American basketball team of the NBA G League based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and are affiliated with the Charlotte Hornets. The Swarm play their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse. The team became ...

. On February 26, 2020, Ingram scored 17 points in a 129–115 loss to the

Westchester Knicks The Westchester Knicks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in White Plains, New York, and are affiliated with the New York Knicks. The Knicks typically play their home games at Westchester County Center in White ...

. He averaged 4.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 16.6 minutes per game. On February 11, 2021, Ingram signed with the

Nelson Giants The Nelson Giants are a New Zealand basketball team based in Nelson. The Giants compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Trafalgar Centre. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Mike Pero Nelson ...

for the 2021 New Zealand NBL season. He averaged 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. Ingram signed with Dutch club

of the

on June 12.

Personal life

Ingram has said that he owns at least 50 pairs of

sneakers Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...

. His teammate and friend, Saieed Ivey, was killed in June 2016; as a memorial, Ingram had custom Nike shoes made with the number 2 — Ivey's jersey number — on the top of the shoe and the acronym FINAO (failure is not an option), one of Ivey's favorite sayings, on the side.

References

External links

Loyola Ramblers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingram, Donte 1996 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands American expatriate basketball people in New Zealand American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Donar (basketball club) players Greensboro Swarm players Loyola Ramblers men's basketball players Nelson Giants players Shooting guards Small forwards Texas Legends players