NC State Basketball
NC State’s MJ Rice to Sit out the Remainder of the Season
Prior to the Wolfpack’s road game against Virginia tonight, NC State just sent out a press release stating that Sophomore MJ Rice will sit out the remainder of the season, and that the school will submit a waiver for this season to count as a redshirt season.
Rice was a massive pickup for NC State out of the Transfer Portal this past offseason.
The Kansas transfer played in 23 games for the Jayhawks as a Freshman this past year, averaging 2.2 points in 7.6 minutes per game. ON3 ranked Rice as the #24 overall player nationally in the 2022 recruiting class. They also ranked him as the #2 overall player in the Transfer Portal.
Prior to this season, Rice stepped away from the program for personal reasons, and missed the first 7 games, before joining the Wolfpack against Maryland Eastern-Shore.
Since joining the Pack, Rice hasn’t carved out a significant role for himself, averaging 4.1 points in 8.8 minutes per game. Rice didn’t play in the last two games, and prior to that, he only averaged 5.25 minutes in the previous 4 games. In the last two games he played in, Rice played 6 minutes against UNC and 2 minutes against Louisville.
At this point, I have no concrete information on why Rice is sitting out the remainder of the season.
According to reports, NC State is adding UMASS’ Brett Nelson as an Assistant Coach.
Sources: Brett Nelson is leaving UMass to join Kevin Keatts’ staff at NC State as an assistant.
Matt Figger — who worked for Frank Martin at both South Carolina and Kansas State — will replace Nelson in Amherst.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 15, 2024
Nelson was only at UMASS for 1 season under Frank Martin. Prior to that, Nelson was the Head Coach at Holy Cross for 4 seasons, posting a 27-84 record.
Prior to taking the Head Coaching mantle at Holy Cross, Nelson was at Marquette for 5 seasons, spending the first 3 as an Assistant Coach, and the final two as an Associate Head Coach. Prior to Marquette, Nelson also served as an Assistant Coach at Ball St., Drake, Arkansas and Marshall.
Before coaching basketball, Nelson played for the University of Florida from 1999-2003. He was All-SEC twice, and earned Third Team All-American honors. When he left Gainesville, he was the Gators’ all-time leader in three pointers made, and ranked 2nd in steals.
As a Senior in High School, Nelson was a McDonald’s All-American.
Power Forward Ernest Ross announced this morning that he is returning to NC State for his final year of eligibility.
View this post on Instagram
Last Friday, Ross committed to UTSA after entering the Transfer Portal on April 17th, but it looks like he had a change of heart over the past couple of days.
NC State has been in desperate need to add a Big out of the Portal. They have hosted ECU’s Ezra Ausar and Georgia’s Frank Anselem-Ibe, but neither of them have found a home yet. With the addition of Ross, NC State has added depth in the Frontcourt, and unless something changes, their roster is full with 13 scholarship players.
Ross played in 14 games this past season, averaging 3.4 minutes per contest. After playing in 34 games last season, averaging 11.4 minutes per contest, Ross saw his participation dip to a career low this season, but that didn’t for a second break his infectious personality. On the sideline, you could count on Ross every single game to be the heart and soul of the Wolfpack on the bench. To watch a player who played as little as he did, care as much as he did, makes me super proud that this young man represented NC State so well.
Ross was a consensus 4-star player in NC State’s 2021 recruiting class, with 247Sports ranking him as the #60 overall player nationally. ESPN ranked him as the #5 overall player in the state of Florida.
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Just give Breon the minutes he deserves anyway…he’s the most athletic guard you have on the team and most likely the best shooter as well. Not to mention LOYAL cause anyone else would have been outta there.Case in point ALL the transfers who committed elsewhere but now they are in Raleigh .
Let Rice play and sit KKIAL for the rest of the season. How could you just forget about Rice? He has the most talent on this team. Now he is probably gone. But if he stays and KKIAL is gone, that would be a fair trade.
I’m afraid that as soon as he get the waiver to sit out, he will be transferring. We will just have to wait and see. Another KKIAL mistake.