How CJ Bryce helps make NC State whole
C.J. Bryce could have picked an easier target or at least a smaller one.
In the N.C. State senior’s first game back from a concussion, he stepped in front of Miami’s Rodney Miller, all 7-0 and 250 pounds, and tried to take a charge in the second half of Wednesday’s 80-63 win over Miami.
“I had to do what I had to do,” Bryce said Wednesday after his first game since Dec. 22.
Bryce could have sought out Miami guard Chris Lykes, who is 5-7 and 165 pounds, but there are no half-measures when it comes to the Wolfpack guard.
“He was trying to make a winning play,” senior guard Markell Johnson said. “That’s what C.J. does.”
Bryce was called for a blocking foul (Miller made the shot but missed the free throw). More importantly, Bryce took the contact and was able to get up.
“It probably meant more to him than anybody else in the locker room, to take a hit and be able to get up and not feel a little bit funny about it,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said.
Any other player than Miller (who is suspiciously listed as 238 pounds on the official Miami roster) and maybe you’d say that Bryce actually needed to take his first hit for that reason. Miller didn’t have a full head of steam when he got the ball in the paint and Bryce tried to step in front of him.
Still, it took some guts after missing four games to take on maybe the biggest player in the ACC.
“I didn’t feel anything,” Bryce said. “I got right back up and I didn’t think twice about it.”
The happiest guy for N.C. State, other than Bryce, was freshman forward Manny Bates. Bryce was injured on Dec. 29 in a pre-game practice when Bates caught Bryce in the face on a follow through of a dunk.
“I caught a lob and finished it,” Bates said. “He must have ran into my hand.”
Bates joked he took it a “little bit easy” in the pre-game practice on Wednesday. Bryce said he hasn’t even joked with Bates about it because he doesn’t want Bates to worry about it.
“It happened,” Bryce said. “It was a freak accident and we just want to move past it.”
Getting back on the court was a good start. To be expected, Bryce wasn’t quite his usual self in his first game back. He had six points and five assists in 22 minutes. He also had two steals and two rebounds.
He came off the bench and subbed in at 15:19 but was slowed by two early fouls in the first half. He was able to get into more of a flow in the second half. His pull-up jumper at the foul line at 12:10 gave N.C. State a 52-40 lead.
“That’s his signature shot,” Bates said. “He makes that all the time.”
And it’s part of what N.C. State was missing without Bryce. The Wolfpack attempted 30 3-point shots in the loss at Virginia Tech this past Saturday. Bryce, who came into Wednesday’s game with a 16.1 scoring average, is able to use his mid-range game to find points when N.C. State’s outside shots aren’t falling.
There’s also Bryce’s value as a leader. N.C. State’s two road losses without him weren’t by accident.
“I was glad to get C.J. back, not just because he’s our leading scorer, but it was good to have him in our locker room,” Keatts said.
And Bryce was so happy to be back, he didn’t mind getting run over by a 7-footer.
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 11:14 PM.
