By: Damir Munoz
While the Bulldogs’ season didn’t go the way they expected, finishing the 2023-2024 regular season with a 7-17 record, Michael Byfield was a reminder that brighter days are ahead. The 20-year-old freshman guard from Englewood, New Jersey averaged 20.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per contest. He ranked as the eighth highest scorer in the entire conference and fifth in the region.
Byfield spoke about not letting the losses negatively affect him; instead, he chose to take a step back and look at the season as a whole. “I try not to think about it negatively, I know last year they (Bergen) only won two games, so you got to start somewhere,” he says. “I also don’t think our record shows who we are as a team.” Injuries and ineligibility led the Bulldogs to lose some key players during the season which impacted the defensive and offensive sides of the team.
Basketball was always on the mind for Byfield, even as a child, crediting his older brothers as the reason he fell in love with the game. “I’ve been playing basketball since I was three, and my brothers introduced it to me,” he says. “I always wanted to be like my oldest brother. He had stopped playing basketball, but he kept pushing me to be better, and I just fell in love with it ever since.” Playing at the collegiate level isn’t the end goal for Byfield: “I want to probably go overseas, that’s my goal.” The passion for the game trumps any distance being put between him and it.
Before the season began, the biggest challenge Byfield faced was his ability to score the ball. “I just didn’t know what my role was as the scorer or how my teammates felt about me being the scorer,” he says. “It came down to telling myself that I could score at this level, and the same rate as the other guys in the league.”
Byfield wasn’t wrong in telling himself that; in his first-ever collegiate basketball game he dropped 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, leading all scorers. That gave Bergen fans a sneak peek at what was in store for the rest of the season. Byfield led his team in scoring in over 40% of games, the highest percentage on the team.
Byfield’s ability to score and shoot the ball goes without question; he scored 20 or more points in 14 of his 24 games, five of the 14 being games where he scored 30 or more, including a career-high 42-point game against the undefeated Brookdale Blues Men. The root of his scoring success? “Confidence. I realized this in high school. When I didn’t have that much confidence, anything I did in practice wouldn’t translate to the actual game,” said Byfield while he broke down what he believed allowed him to become a top-five scorer at the division III NJCAA level.
Confidence allowed him to bury a three-point game-winner to send the division-rival Passaic County Panthers back home with a loss. With a game that hung in the balance for a majority of the night, the Panthers held a 74-65 lead with 2:26 remaining. Bergen had cut the lead to 76-74 with 0:37 seconds remaining and possession of the ball; the tide was rolling in the favor of our Bulldogs until a seemingly costly turnover put comeback hopes to bed. But Byfield hadn’t given up on the play, swatting away the opposing team’s layup attempt and regaining possession.
A few split opportunities from the free-throw line from both sides and the score was 77-75 with 0:02 seconds remaining in the game. “It meant a lot, knowing that my team and coaches were depending on me and believing I could hit the shot; it took a lot of the pressure off from me thinking about making the shot,” said Byfield as he explained the level of confidence he had as he wrapped around the screen and drilled the game-winner.
Growing up a Lakers fan, Byfield had the opportunity to watch many game-winners at the hands of the legendary Kobe Bryant. “Kobe was always my idol,” Byfield remarked. Paying attention to the way Byfield plays, one could find some resemblances in the game. The mentality being the most important: “I would consider myself hardworking in the game, 100% effort on the court; we could be down by 20 with two minutes left, I’m playing like we’re down by three with 20 seconds. Always going to play for my team.”
The iconic “Mamba Mentality” Kobe always preached about is put on full display when Byfield is on the court. Other similarities coming on the offensive end, Byfield has a knack for getting to his spot in the mid-range or lighting defenses up from the three. Byfield ranked fifth in total three-pointers made and second in three-pointers made per game (3.0).
While the season for the Bulldogs is over, the work is just beginning for #3 in the purple and orange.