Ingram began his freshman year of college basketball playing two exhibition games against Florida Southern and Livingstone. In his debut for Duke, Ingram scored 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting against Siena. In the second game, he scored 21 points to help Duke defeat Bryant in the 2K Sports Classic. The Blue Devilsstarted out the season ranked fifth in the nation entering the Champions Classic, an event that matches four of the nation’s best programs against each other, before receiving their first lost of the season against Kentucky on November 17, 2015. The same day, Ingram became one of seven freshmen named to the 50-man Wooden Awardpreseason watchlist. Duke quickly bounced back by defeating Georgetownthe following week at the 2K Sports Classic Championship in Madison Square Garden on November 22. The same week, Ingram came off the bench for the second time after being removed from Duke's starting line-up for their game against Yale, scoring 15 points. The following game, he was inserted back into the starting line-up and helped Duke start the season 9–1, which included a seven-game win streak, before falling to Utah in overtime. During a five-game stretch in December, Ingram averaged 21.2 points and 8.8 rebounds while filling in at power forward for injured Amile Jefferson. After recording 24 points and 6 rebounds in a win over Indiana in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on December 2, Ingram scored 23 points to lead Duke over Buffalo. For his effors, he received his first ACC Rookie of the Week honor.
On December 12, 2015, Ingram scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a home win over Georgia Southern, and blocked a career-high 6 shots in a home win over Virginia Tech in January 2016. That same month, he scored 25 points and had 9 rebounds in a win at Boston College in his ACC debut. After being voted National Freshman of the Week and ACC Rookie of the Week twice in the month of January, Ingram helped Duke break a three-game losing streak by scoring 25 points to go with 7 rebounds against NC State. In February 2016, he was voted ACC Rookie of the Week for the fourth time after averaging a team-high 21.5 points and added 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists on the week as Duke defeated number thirteen Louisville and number sevenVirginia to extend its winning streak to four games. That same month, Ingram was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith College Player of the Year award. In a road game against the number fifth seed and rival North Carolina, Ingram scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to give Duke a one-point win over the Tar Heels on February 17.
As the fifth seed in the ACC Tournament, Duke beat NC State in the second round but lost to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. In the 2016 NCAA Tournament, Duke was awarded a fourth seed and won their first round match-up against UNC Wilmington. After beating Yale in the second round, Duke was defeated in the Sweet 16 by Oregon despite 24 points from Ingram. In 36 games for Duke in 2015-16, Ingram averaged 17.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 34.6 minutes per game, while shooting 44.2% from the field, 41.0% from three-point range and 68.2% from the free throw line. He finished the tournament averaging 23.0 points to go along with 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the three games. He subsequently earned ACC Rookie of the Year honors and AP All-American honorable mention. Ingram had one of the best seasons ever for a young player at Duke, ranking in the top 3 among the school's all-time freshman leaders in scoring (third), three-pointers (second) and 20-point games (tied for second). On April 4, 2016, Ingram declared for the 2016 NBA draft, forgoing his final three years of college eligibility.
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