Brandon Ingram jokes about Duke basketball career after triple-double
As a Duke basketball one-and-done, Brandon Ingram was a bonafide bucket, averaging 17.3 points per game on his way to becoming the 2016 ACC Rookie of the Year. But as the New Orleans Pelicans forward joked after posting his first NBA triple-double on Thursday night, he didn't specialize in dimes as a Blue Devil.
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"I definitely didn't have one in college," the 25-year-old Ingram, trying to remember his last triple-double, told the media after posting 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Pelicans' 115-96 home win over the Charlotte Hornets. "I didn't pass the basketball in college. Maybe high school."
He's hardly exaggerating. At Duke, Ingram averaged only 2.0 assists. His highest total in a game? Four (three times).
His triple-double against the Hornets was the first by a Pelican this season and the franchise's first of the 30-point variety since 2018. He tallied 17 points, five rebounds, and six assists in the first quarter alone, scoring or assisting on 31 of the team's 37 points across the first 12 minutes.
Furthermore, he became the eighth NBA player to record a 30-point triple-double without committing a single turnover.
This season, for the first time in his career, Brandon Ingram is averaging more assists (5.2) than rebounds (5.0). Meanwhile, with nine games remaining on New Orleans' regular-season schedule, his 23.7 points per game are only a tenth of a point off his career-high.
The Pelicans (36-37), who remain without the services of Duke basketball product Zion Williamson for at least two more weeks, have now won three straight. Their latest win resulted in a three-spot jump to No. 9 in the Western Conference standings.
Next on the slate for Brandon Ingram and the New Orleans Pelicans is a road bout against Los Angeles Clippers at 10:30 p.m. ET Saturday.
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