Funderburk Checked All Boxes In Return To Wolfpack

NC State’s 2019-20 season got off to an inauspicious start when DJ Funderburk was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. 

Funderburk’s anticipated return to the court finally happened Wednesday night in NC State’s 86-77 win against Florida International after Funderburk met all of the requirements Kevin Keatts set for him.

“My initial conversation with him was, ‘If you want to be a part of this program, here’s what you have to do,’” Keatts said. “And I haven’t talked to him about it anymore, but I have checked with every coach or academic person or anybody on campus that I could talk to to make sure that he was doing everything he was supposed to do.”

Keatts liked what he heard and decided Funderburk could rejoin his teammates, but the coach wasn’t sure when the post man would start playing.

“Everybody checked the boxes off and I was happy, so it was a mutual - I didn’t even tell him he was playing today,” Keatts said. “He knew I was going to dress him out but I didn’t know - I honestly went into the game and didn’t even know if I was going to play him.”

Funderburk is thankful for his lesson.

“When you get it taken away from you, it is a blessing and a privilege to get back out there with your family,” Funderburk said. “It was definitely a wake-up call and something I appreciate. I am most definitely ready to put it behind me and focus on basketball.”

As for his impact on the court, Funderburk provided a much-needed boost to the frontcourt, even though Manny Bates is off to an excellent start.

“Getting him back takes a little bit of pressure off Manny (Bates),” Keatts said. “I asked our guys to do a better job of offensive rebounding. That’s been one of the things since I’ve been here, we’ve been a great offensive rebounding team. We were able to get 18 tonight. When you look at it, I thought Manny (Bates) and DJ (Funderburk) both did a tremendous job. I think they had 11 between the two of them.”

Funderburk came off the bench and played 22 minutes, scored 11 points, and collected seven rebounds, with six of them coming on the offensive side

Asked how he played, Funderburk shrugged.

“It took me a little while. Probably in the second half it kicked in a little more,” he said. “More effort, more energy. I can get going.”