On a night NC State basketball celebrated its past, MJ Rice offered a hint of the future
It takes a lot to distract N.C. State fans from the magnificent presence of David Thompson on the day they unveiled his statue — floating, appropriately, above the ground — or the surprise presentation of the Butkus Award trophy to Payton Wilson.
It was a day for the basketball legend and a night for the football star at Reynolds Coliseum, and what everyone wanted to talk about afterward was a guy who has scored 2,298 fewer points for the Wolfpack than Thompson and has been at the university for a half a decade less than Wilson.
MJ Rice made his long-awaited Wolfpack debut Wednesday night, coming off the bench only a few minutes after Wilson and his fellow captains and Dave Doeren and one of the late Dick Butkus’ sons had exited the floor in a joyful mass, lugging the heavy copper trophy with them.
And man, if the trophy presentation was a surprise for Wilson and everyone else, no one saw Rice coming. It wasn’t even a matter of “Maybe he’ll play tonight.” It was a matter of “Will he ever play?” The answer is yes, and that right soon.
He finished with 11 points and six rebounds in his first 11 minutes for the Wolfpack in a 93-61 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore, the final two points a thunderous dunk departing from somewhere just short of the free throw line, presumably a mere taste of what’s yet to come.
“I saw it in his eyes,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said. “He’s not passing this. He’s going to go dunk this. That dunk looked good. You get a dunk, and David Thompson’s in the building, and he claps? Pretty good dunk.”
N.C. State did not make Rice available to the media after the game but his teammates were clearly happy to see Rice finally join them on the court.
“I’m just excited to see him back on the floor, especially that crazy dunk that he had,” LJ Thomas said. “I’m just glad to see him healthy.”
Rice’s arrival via the transfer portal from Kansas in the spring raised the hopes of an entire fan base, a McDonald’s All-American from Henderson coming home to offer an infusion of raw talent to an N.C. State team in a partial rebuild around DJ Burns after losing Terquavion Smith to the NBA and Jarkel Joiner to graduation.
But by the summer, Rice was curiously absent, invisible from the team’s social media and public presentation, not present when his teammates were honored at a football game. Whether he’d ever even play for N.C. State, let alone contribute, became a matter of considerable discussion and concern. In September, Rice acknowledged he had taken a leave of absence, but that only offered clarity for the past and present, not the future.
“My commitment to N.C. State has not changed,” Rice said in a statement. “I appreciate everything Coach (Kevin) Keatts and his staff have done for me. For personal reasons, I needed to step away from basketball for a period of time but excited to be back with my teammates soon.”
He rejoined the team in October, but it remained unclear whether he’d ever play.
Until Wednesday.
Without fanfare, with N.C. State leading early in the second half. Keatts walked down the bench, tapped Rice and Breon Pass, and as they tore off their shirts, the crowd reacted in a manner usually reserved for popular walk-ons in the final minute of blowouts.
The sudden applause at an otherwise ordinary moment in the game had fans swiveling their heads to figure out what was happening, and then the slow realization rippled through the building.
Rice, finally, had arrived.
And needed less than 30 seconds to score his first points.
“He gives us another dimension,” Keatts said. “We’ve been playing with our six new dudes and now we have a seventh. I’m happy for him. He’s going to help us. He’s going to be really good for us.”
Rice’s minutes Wednesday were limited, but this was never about Wednesday, or even December. His arrival is a potential game-changer for the rest of the season, an explosive, athletic, versatile player who struggled with injuries last season at Kansas but has a wealth of untapped potential.
“His game, his versatility, he brings it on both ends,” N.C. State guard Casey Morsell said. “His energy. You saw tonight he was a big spark for us, especially in the second half. He gave us a boost. Just his presence, it’s good to have him back. He’s worked extremely hard.”
A 6-foot-5 guard built like a power forward, who’s just scratching the surface of his ability, Rice is not going to single-handedly solve the Wolfpack’s biggest issue — the lack of a fit-for-purpose point guard — but he’s another piece, a big piece, for a team that’s still figuring out how all the pieces fit together.
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