Even in Victory, Wolfpack Continues to Lose Players

Jericole Hellems didn't play at Miami on Wednesday after getting hurt in practice while D.J. Funderburk suffered an undisclosed injury during the game

The NC State basketball team scored a key victory at Miami on Wednesday with an 83-72 victory at Watsco Center.

In the process, however, it continued to lose players to injury.

Sophomore forward Jericole Hellems didn't play because of a shoulder issue suffered in practice two days earlier. Once the game started, the Wolfpack lost another key player when junior D.J. Funderburk was sidelined after only 14 minutes of action.

Coach Kevin Keatts addressed Funderburk's situation after the game, suggesting that it wasn't serious.

"He's fine," Keatts said. "I don't have what his injury was, but I do know during the game he got hit pretty hard, so we decided not to go with him."

Funderburk first came out of the game at about the 10 minute mark of the first half when he appeared to get hit in the groin during a collision under the basket. But after a brief trip to the locker room, he quickly returned.

The incident that sent the 6-foot-10 forward to the bench for the rest of the evening came early in the second half when he was hit in the head, possibly by teammate Manny Bates, while going for a rebound.

Keatts suggested that Funderburk probably could have returned to the floor if needed. But he was able to err on the side of caution because of the way Bates was playing. 

The 6-foot-11 redshirt freshman had perhaps his best game of the season with 10 points on 5 of 5 shooting, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Funderburk was limited to two points, only the second time in the last 13 games that he's failed to score in double figures. 

"I thought Manny did a tremendous job finishing the game," Keatts said. "(It was) probably one of his better games for us offensively with 10 points and seven rebounds. And four of those were offensive."

As for Hellems, he became the seventh of State's nine eligible scholarship players to miss a game.

How long he will be sidelined isn't certain. But with no game scheduled this weekend, both him and Funderburk will have a few days to recover before State returns to the action next Tuesday at Syracuse.

"Jericole got banged up in practice a couple of days ago with his shoulder." Keatts said. "He ran through a screen and his shoulder got caught and bent behind. We thought he would be available for tonight because he had a couple days for him to nurse it a little bit. But we made the decision earlier today in shootaround that he wasn't going to be available."

Hellems averages 9.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. He becomes the seventh different player on the Wolfpack's roster to miss at least one game because of injury or suspension this season.

Only twice in 12 ACC games -- on Jan. 15 against Miami and last Saturday against Louisville -- has Keatts had all nine of his eligible scholarship players available for an entire game.