On Thursday, Maine transfer Stephane Ingo announced that he would spend his senior season at Marist College. The Red Foxes lost seven players to the transfer portal, but Ingo should bring in much-needed experience through adversity.
“The coaching staff showed me a lot of love and appreciation,” Ingo told The Portal Report, “It’s a great fit academically. Honestly, athletically it was all. They wanted me to come in and play and be able to contribute. It was checking all my boxes.”
Stephane was the team captain for the Black Bears the last two seasons and that was no easy task. Maine only played nine games in 2020-21 before COVID-19 canceled the rest of their season. This past season, they had to play their final four games under an assistant coach in Jai Steadman as former head coach Richard Barron mutually stepped away from the head coaching role.
Ingo took it as a task to further his leadership role on the team as a captain. In those final four games, Maine was playing its best basketball of the season, beating NJIT and nearly upsetting Albany.
“It was honestly an honor to be a captain and have the guys look at me for leadership. For me, I’m not really a guy who’s going to yell, I feel like I’m soft-spoken. I feel like I lead by example. So for me, it was really empowering to be in that position. It helped me raise my level of play because I knew every day that I had a team to lead,” Ingo said, “In moments like that, it’s easy to separate. But, I felt like we had good chemistry, and good leadership in that sense so guys were brought even closer.”
As a player, Stephane is exactly what you want on defense. In 2021, he had the best defensive rating in the America East and in 2022 he had the best block percentage in the league. His offense is strong, but he thinks it can get even better and grow off his roll and pop ability.
“I’m gonna bring versatility to the forward position. You know, being able to roll, pop as well. Do the little things, that’s something I told them when they recruited me. I’m not somebody that wants or needs to score, I just want to do whatever it takes to win,” Ingo said, “It’s the little things like the extra hustle plays, the rebounds, diving for loose balls, getting blocks. Stuff like that is what I’m going to bring to their program.”
Ingo should make an immediate impact in the MAAC, choosing the Red Foxes over Oakland, Robert Morris, and Towson.
