Tuesday night, the NC State men’s basketball team secured a 105-55 season-opening win against Mount St. Mary’s, thanks in no small part to redshirt junior C.J. Bryce’s 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds and four steals.
It was Bryce’s first game action in over a year and a half since transferring from UNC-Wilmington, but he’s hardly unfamiliar with playing under head coach Kevin Keatts and his up-tempo, press-heavy style of play. After all, the Charlotte native played for Keatts for two years at Wilmington and redshirted last year due to NCAA transfer rules after coming to NC State.
“This is one of the most athletic teams I’ve played on,” Bryce said. “I think everybody’s done a good job coming along and learning the new system.”
Bryce was a prolific scorer in his first two years with the Seahawks, averaging 13.8 points over 68 games, including his sophomore season when he averaged a team-high 17.4 points per game while leading the team to two CAA regular season and tournament titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances where the team narrowly lost to ACC schools in Duke and Virginia in the first round. He also garnered a bevy of awards in his first two seasons, most notably being named First-Team All CAA and earning CAA Tournament MVP honors in 2017.
He wasn’t recruited by ACC schools out of high school, but he’s proven he has the talent for arguably the best conference in college basketball.
“I think he’s a guy that can score inside and out,” Keatts said. “He’s kind of changed his game a little bit from the first couple years at Wilmington. He was more of a slasher but now he’s a guy who can step out to three, can put the ball on the floor, one-two dribble pull up.”
Bryce is one of two transfers for the Wolfpack that had a redshirt last year due to transfer rules. The other, redshirt sophomore Devon Daniels, is a fellow wing that can pull up from beyond the arc as well. The two will figure to see a lot of time on the court this season as NC State deploys a guard-heavy roster with at least four backcourt players on the court nearly all the time.
“Me and Devon Daniels played together every practice last year, we know each other’s game pretty well,” Bryce said. “He’s a great player, I can’t wait to play with him this season.”
Bryce has also drawn praise from his teammates as the many newcomers adjust to Keatts’ system. The Wolfpack returns just three players from last year’s squad that won 11 games in ACC play and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.
“It helps a lot,” graduate guard Eric Lockett said. “If we have any questions, instead of going to coach Keatts right away we can go to C.J. and ask him. Just little things throughout practice, so that helps a lot.”
Redshirt senior Torin Dorn transferred from UNC-Charlotte after his freshman season and had to sit out a season redshirting due to NCAA transfer rules, and can certainly relate to Bryce’s experience.
“Both of our transfers that sat out last year are really good players,” Dorn said. “C.J. Bryce and Devon Daniels, they’re both good. They’re hungry. They’ve been itching. I remember those days when I was sitting out. I see that same fire in them and how they work. They should be really good for us this year.”
Sitting out a year after transferring is a tough process for many players, and Bryce shares their sentiment but has a positive outlook on it too.
“It was tougher than I thought it would be,” Bryce said. “But I’m glad that I did it. It gave me a lot of time to work on a lot of stuff on and off the court.”
While he may not be the focal point of the offense this year, Bryce will still be one of the several go-to options when the Wolfpack needs a bucket. He didn’t shoot a ton of 3-pointers during his first two years of college, but was successful when he did, averaging 34.8 percent from deep. A lot of his scoring was from beating his defender off the dribble and on fast breaks, as he shot over 50 percent from 2-point range on over eight shots per game from that distance.
Fortunately for the Wolfpack, it doesn’t need Bryce to carry the team like he did with the Seahawks. This year’s iteration of NC State basketball has plenty of guards that can score and shoot, and Bryce is one of them that the team can turn to.
“I just want him to play,” Keatts said. “If he can average 17 points per game at this level, then I’m great with him. I try to create an atmosphere where our guys can just play loose and I give them tremendous offensive freedom without getting crazy, and I hope he just plays the way he plays.”
Look for Bryce to play a key role this season, both on offense and defense. His ability to score off the dribble and from beyond the arc is welcome addition to the Wolfpack and a reason for optimism this season for the NC State faithful.
