NC State basketball was full of smiles after whipping Miami 80-63 on Wednesday at PNC Arena, and following the return of fifth-year senior wing C.J. Bryce.

Bryce, who had missed the last four games after suffering a concussion in a pregame shoot-around Dec. 29, contributed six points and five assists in 21:08 minutes off the bench. His numbers might have been modest, but the Wolfpack needed some good mojo after tough recent losses against Clemson and Virginia Tech without him.

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Once NC State took control late in the first half, the Wolfpack never trailed in the second half and improved to 12-5 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. NCSU has a rematch with Clemson at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Bryce was happy to put things behind him. He had gotten hit in the head during a fluke situation by teammate Manny Bates during a drill. Bryce had to pass a five-day protocol before returning.

“I don’t even want Manny to think about that incident any more,” Bryce said. “We have passed it. It was a freak accident, and this team is moving in the right direction. That is all that matters right now.”

It was likely expected that Bryce was going to need a game to get his feet wet. He was slowed in the first half due to two quick fouls, but was able to get back into the flow of things in the second. Playing against Miami will certainly help him against Clemson on Saturday.

“I’m still trying to get my conditioning back,” Bryce said. “I had about two or three practices under my belt now. I’m still working to get back into my groove.”

The return of Bryce also simply meant less minutes for the other Wolfpack perimeter players. They still welcomed his presence.

“He is a team leader and captain,” said NCSU redshirt junior wing Devon Daniels, who had 15 points. “It was really good to have him back.”

NC State also has had fifth-year senior center Danny Dixon back from his nagging injuries, giving the Wolfpack nine healthy scholarship players.

“One thing we talked about was being a star in your role,” NCSU head coach Kevin Keatts said. “I’m trying to get everybody to accept what their role is.

“I haven’t had this full team together for the majority of our losses, which is tough. You wonder if you had them, would you have lost the game?”

Oklahoma wing transfer Kameron McGusty entered the game averaging 15.4 points per game to lead the Hurricanes. The NC State defenders were emphasized to get the redshirt junior to use his non-dominant left hand in trying to score.

“We came into the game wanting to take away one of their big three,” Keatts said.

Keatts said it has been a struggle at times to get the players to understand the scouting reports, so he has started to quiz the team, sometimes to mixed results.

“I said, 'These are the things we’ll say in a timeout,'” Keatts said. “I might say the score is 75-70. I might say, 'If they are in man-to-man, we’ll run ‘X-Three-Flow.’ If they are in zone, I may run ‘Zone One.’

"I might say we have two timeout left. I might say, ‘If they tie you up to not call timeout because it is our possession.’”

Keatts then tested the players on what he just went over in potential timeout situations, with the last key always to “Have fun.” Keatts knew there was room for improvement when Bates said they were up by 19 points instead of 75-70. Keatts also quizzed the players after he broke down Miami’s personnel. Some of them thought 7-0 center Rodney Miller was a 6-4 wing.

The extra mental effort worked in the case of McGusty. He was held to 1 of 9 shooting for for two points, eight rebounds and five of the Hurricanes’ 15 turnovers.

“We all were playing team defense,” Daniels said. “We really focused in on the scouting report and tried to take away guys strengths. I think we did that well.”

Keatts mentioned attention spans aren’t the same with players due to cell phones. He has lamented this season that players can easily let go of losses compared to coaches. Players are also not as familiar with opposing players as some might think.

“We are starting to understand scouting reports,” Keatts said. “They don’t pay attention and we have to do a better job in that area.

“I love my guys and their grades are good, but they lose focus after a certain amount of time.”

NC State switched up the starting lineup by inserting redshirt junior post player D.J. Funderburk in, playing next to Bates.

Keatts wanted to reward Funderburk for his recent play and for getting into better shape. He came through yet again with 19 points and eight rebounds against the Hurricanes. Keatts still needles the big man about his assist-to-turnover ratio.

NC State flirted with a 10-point lead during the first five minutes of the second half, but firmly gained control when sophomore forward Jericole Hellems went on a 7-2 scoring run to give the Wolfpack a 50-40 lead with 12:48 remaining. NC State led by double digits the rest of the way, with the biggest lead by 20 with 3:24 remaining.

“One of our main points, Keatts talked about keeping our foot on their neck,” Funderburk said. “As you see in any of our other games, we tend to come out in the second half sluggish, and we slack off everything.”

The Wolfpack players were proud that there wasn’t any let up down the stretch in the drama-free victory.

“That’s something we have to work on, playing a full 20-minute half start to finish,” Daniels said. “I feel we did that well tonight.”

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