C.J. Bryce, the mid-range magic man

Since the team is off all week, I’ve been digging through the early-season statistics, as one does, to get a better sense of where NC State’s players are succeeding and struggling. The offense as a whole has been good, and C.J. Bryce in particular has been outstanding.

What sticks out immediately for Bryce is his accuracy on twos that aren’t classified as a dunk or “at the rim.” Basically everything inside the arc that isn’t what you’d consider a gimme, or something really close to it. Bryce has attempted 56 twos that qualify as mid- or long-range, and he’s made 57.1% of them.

Last season, he made 44.4% of those shots. Which was pretty good! Those are generally such low-percentage attempts, that’s not a bad number. He ranked 137th among all D-I players who took at least 50 such shots.

So far this season, only 36 players have attempted at least 50 mid/long twos and Bryce leads everybody. (UNC’s Cole Anthony is last in this group at 33.9%. Eep.) If I bump the minimum attempts down to 25, he still ranks 10th.

That’s some really impressive work, especially since that’s where the bulk of his field goal attempts are coming from—these are not spots on the floor he’s only relying on occasionally. It’s not an area of the court that many guys are comfortable with anymore, but Bryce sure seems to be an exception.