as a freshman, bell was a backup to guards corey fisher, corey stokes, and maalik wayns. he was hampered by stress fractures in his tibia. the injury was so bad it required metal rods to be inserted in both legs. he missed the first five games of his freshman year recuperating from the surgery. with stokes injured, bell scored a season-high 21 points in a win over seton hall on february 15, 2011. he averaged 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds per game as a freshman.