CJ Ingram will return to the Florida basketball program for his sophomore season, he announced on Wednesday via social media.
The Hawthorne native and son of former Gators two-sport athlete Cornelius Ingram appeared in 21 games as a true freshman last season, averaging 2.2 points and 0.9 rebounds in almost five and a half minutes per outing. Known more for his defensive prowess early on in his collegiate career, the 6-foot-6-inch wingman did manage to make 50% of his shots from beyond the arc in a dozen attempts.
Ingram spent most of his time on the floor for Florida in mop-up duty, but still managed to make his minutes meaningful, regardless of how few they were. He played a season-high 13 minutes against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the penultimate regular-season game, nailing three of his five field-goal attempts to finish with a season-best eight points, when starting forward Thomas Haugh sat out with a mild injury.
"I'm really proud of CJ Ingram... a guy that hasn't gotten a lot of time this year," coach Todd Golden said after that game. "We told him he had to be ready tonight with Tommy not being able to play... I think he was plus-21 in the first half... which was absolutely fantastic."
Ingram was ranked the No. 73 overall prospect by 247sports coming out of the prep level. He averaged 12.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 steals per game as a senior at the prestigious Montverde Academy after putting up 24 points, 8.5 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 3.7 steals per game at Hawthorne the season prior.
He joins Haugh, Alex Condon, Alex Kovatchev, Alex Lloyd, Isaiah Brown, AJ Brown, Urban Klavzar and Boogie Fland in returning to Florida for the 2026-27 campaign. The Gators still await a decision from Rueben Chinyelu, who recently announced that he is going through the NBA draft process, but will return to Gainesville if he withdraws.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball's CJ Ingram announces return for sophomore season