Bryce Ready to Build on Successful Return
C.J. Bryce's 21 minutes were a season low. So were his six points and two rebounds.
And yet, his performance in NC State's 80-63 win against Miami on Wednesday was arguably his most encouraging of the season.
The redshirt senior wing provided a boost of energy to a Wolfpack team that badly needed a spark while proving that he is fully recovered from the concussion that forced him to the sidelines for the previous four games.
"I’m still working to get my conditioning back," Bryce said after his highly-anticipated return. "I’ve got two or three practices under my belt now. I’m still working to get back to my groove and get back jelling with my team."
Bryce appeared tentative after entering the game for the first time following the under-16 TV timeout. But he eventually loosened up after halftime while recording all six points and all five assists during a final 20 minutes in which the Wolfpack outscored the Hurricanes 47-38.
The most significant moment of his return, however, came with about 6 1/2 minutes remaining when Bryce decided to plant himself in the lane and attempt to draw a charge from Miami's 7-foot, 238-plus pound Rodney Miller Jr.
Bryce didn't get the call -- he was the one called for the foul on the play -- but he survived the collision, showing no ill effects from the collision that knocked him to the floor.
"I wasn’t worried," he said. "I actually didn’t know if I wanted to take the charge or not, but I tried to get in there and take the slide because coach (Kevin) Keatts said I never take charges. I was trying to make a winning play and I’ve just got to move my feet better. I’ll get it."
Bryce suffered his injury during a pregame shootaround before State's win against Appalachian State on Dec. 29 when he was accidentally struck in the head as teammate Manny Bates executed a dunk.
The situation was clearly no laughing matter.
When a reporter made a joke about him having to wear a helmet around Bates, Bryce quickly dismissed it by saying he doesn't "even want Manny to think about that incident anymore."
Bryce, who averaged team-leading totals of 16.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game before being sidelined, would just as soon not re-live it again, either.
"As soon as it happened, I had a headache for a couple of days," he said. "I had light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, even me being in the gym during practice and the buzzer going off was really loud and it messed with my head a little bit. I'm feeling back to 100 percent and ready to build off this."
He'll get his next chance to do that on Saturday at home against Clemson, a team that beat the Wolfpack without him on the road less than two weeks ago.
It's a game in which Bryce could potentially be a difference-maker.
"I was glad to get C.J. back, not just because he's our leading scorer, but it's good to have him in the locker room," Keatts said. "We needed some senior leadership on and off the court.
As much as the Wolfpack missed Bryce, going 2-2 in his absence -- also losing at Virginia Tech last Saturday while beating Notre Dame and Appalachian State -- teammate D.J. Funderburk said that he and his teammates learned a valuable lesson while playing without him.
"Our bond is a little bit stronger," Funderburk said. "We know that without C.J., we've all got to contribute a little more. We've been kind of crunching on Markell (Johnson) and C.J. prior to his injury. We knew we had to bond together without him."
That having been said, Funderburk is happy to have Bryce back.
"I missed his pull-up (jumper). I missed his energy in warmups and then off the court," Funderburk said. "It felt a little different without him with us. Now that he's back, I'm happy that he's playing."
No one is happier than Bryce, himself.
"It’s great to be back with the guys, to be back in practice and compete with these guys," he said. "We have a great team. To be out on the floor with these guys and get a win like that is something special."
