Bryce Aiken (born December 14, 1996) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He previously played college basketball for the

Seton Hall Pirates The Seton Hall Pirates are the intercollegiate athletic sports teams representing Seton Hall University, located in South Orange, New Jersey. The Pirates compete as a member of the NCAA Division I level (non-football sub-level), primarily compet ...

of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

and the

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson is the nickname of the college sports teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate Varsity team, varsity sports teams for women and men at Harva ...

High school career

Raised in

Randolph, New Jersey Randolph is a township in southwestern Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 26,504, an increase of 770 (+3.0%) from the 2010 census count of 25,734, which in turn ...

, Aiken played basketball during his freshman year at

Pope John XXIII Regional High School Pope John XXIII Regional High School is a Roman Catholic high school in Sparta, in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school was founded in 1956, originally as ''Our Lady Of The Lake School'' and is part of the Roman Catholic D ...

Sparta, New Jersey Sparta is a township in Sussex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 19,600, a decrease of 122 (−0.6%) from the 2010 census count of 19,722, which in turn reflected an in ...

. While attending Pope John, he became friends with

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player

Kyrie Irving Kyrie Andrew Irving ( ; , ; born March 23, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named the Rookie of the Year after being selected by the Cleveland Cav ...

. For his sophomore year, Aiken transferred to

The Patrick School The Patrick School (TPS) is an Private school, independent Mixed-sex education, co-educational four-year High school in the United States, high school in Hillside, New Jersey, Hillside in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, New Jersey, Uni ...

, Irving's former team, in

Hillside, New Jersey Hillside is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 22,456, an increase of 1,052 (+4.9%) from the 2010 census count of 21,404, which in turn reflected a ...

. He averaged 10.8 points per game as a senior and helped his team to a 64–18 record over three years, including a runner-up finish at the City of Palms Classic. On the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) circuit, he played for the PSA Cardinals. On October 8, 2015, Aiken committed to play

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

over offers from Miami (Florida) and

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

. He was a consensus four-star recruit and was ranked among the top 100 players in the 2016 class by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a large ...

and

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

College career

As a freshman, Aiken was named

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Ivy. His 14.5 points per game average was the highest for a Harvard freshman since 1988. He averaged 14.1 points per game as a sophomore. Aiken suffered a left knee injury in loss to Columbia on February 2, 2018 that required offseason surgery. He missed the nonconference section of his junior season before returning on January 21, 2019 against

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

and finished with 16 points. On February 8, Aiken scored a career-high 44 points in a 98–96 triple overtime win over Columbia. As a junior, Aiken averaged 22.2 points, 2.9 rebounds. and 2.6 assists per game on a team that finished 19–12 and lost to

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

in the second round of the NIT. He was named to the First Team All-Ivy League. Coming into his senior season, Aiken was named to the Naismith and Bob Cousy Award watchlists. He scored his 1,000th career point on November 22 in a 82–74 win over Holy Cross and finished with 32 points, hitting 5 of 7 three-pointers. Aiken played just seven games during the 2019–20 season before being sidelined with a season-ending injury. Aiken averaged 16.7 points and 1.7 assists per game in those seven games. On April 9, 2020, Aiken announced that he would transfer to

for his senior season, choosing the Pirates over

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

. After an injury-plagued senior season, Aiken took advantage of the additional year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He sprained his ankle in Seton Hall's season-opening loss to

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

on November 27, and was ruled out for two weeks. On January 15, 2022, he sustained a concussion during a 73-72 loss to Marquette and was ruled out indefinitely. On March 2, Aiken was officially announced to be out for the season. He averaged 14.5 points and 2.7 assists per game.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 26 , , 9 , , 27.8 , , .395 , , .349 , , .884 , , 2.2 , , 2.8 , , .8 , , .0 , , 14.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 14 , , 9 , , 27.7 , , .375 , , .235 , , .807 , , 2.1 , , 2.9 , , .3 , , .0 , , 14.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 18 , , 17 , , 32.8 , , .434 , , .398 , , .855 , , 2.9 , , 2.6 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 22.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 6 , , 25.6 , , .412 , , .361 , , .872 , , 1.9 , , 1.7 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , 16.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 14 , , 0 , , 14.4 , , .319 , , .270 , , .889 , , .9 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .0 , , 5.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 15 , , 6 , , 26.2 , , .448 , , .353 , , .825 , , 2.1 , , 2.7 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , 14.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 94 , , 47 , , 26.3 , , .406 , , .342 , , .851 , , 2.1 , , 2.5 , , .9 , , .0 , , 14.8

Personal life

Aiken's father, Daryl, ran

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

for the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, where Aiken's mother, Diana, was a

gymnast Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

. His two older brothers played college basketball: Kyle for Lincoln University and Julian for Assumption College.

References

External links

Seton Hall Pirates bioHarvard Crimson bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aiken, Bryce 1996 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Morris County, New Jersey Harvard Crimson men's basketball players Sportspeople from Randolph, New Jersey Point guards Pope John XXIII Regional High School alumni Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball players The Patrick School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen