Bryce Makes Up For Lost Time With 40-Minute Effort

Showing no signs of his recent four-game layoff, Wolfpack star C.J. Bryce never left the court during Saturday's win against Clemson

After missing four games and not playing for nearly three weeks, C.J. Bryce was well rested, if nothing else. But that's not the reason coach Kevin Keatts kept the redshirt senior on the floor for the entire 40 minutes of NC State's 60-54 win against Clemson on Saturday.

As it turns out, Bryce was simply too important to the Wolfpack for Keatts to take him out of the grind-it-out battle his team couldn't afford to lose.

“I didn’t want to play him for 40 minutes and I didn't even know that, to be honest with you, until I picked up the stat sheet," Keatts said afterward. "I thought I had subbed him out for a minute. But it says a lot about him. 

"Give our training staff and our strength coach a lot credit, because they've done a tremendous job getting him able to play that many minutes."

Bryce came into the game averaging 32.7 minutes per game, second most on the team behind point guard Markell Johnson, so he's no stranger to playing for long stretches. Having played for Keatts for two seasons at UNC Wilmington before transferring to State, he's also the player most in sync with his what his coach wants out on the court.

But his current conditioning had been a question after being sidelined for an extended period with a concussion, suffered during a pregame shootaround on Dec. 29.

State's leading scorer and rebounder, Bryce played a season low 22 minutes in his first game back on Wednesday, a win against Miami in which he attempted only five shots and was limited to six points.

Back in the starting lineup Saturday, he finished the game with 11 points, nine rebounds and two assists while spearheading a defense that held Clemson to 37,7 percent shooting , including 5 of 20 from 3-point range.

"I thought he was really good today," Keatts said "That kid plays with so much composure. There was a stretch at the end of the first (half) where he played point guard for us. We can move him over and from between the one through the four.

"He is so valuable to our team, when you talk about a guy who's got experience and just knows how to play, can score and is playing well on the defensive end. He is doing a great job. It says a lot about him to be able to get out here and contribute the way he's done."

As far as Bryce is concerned, there was nothing out of the ordinary about either his performance or his 40-minute effort.

"I've done it a couple of games before, so it a big deal," he said. "I'm still in really good shape and I continue to work on my body and my conditioning to get back grooving out there."

Just as he did in Wednesday's win against Miami, when Bryce scored all his points and handed out all five of his season-high assists in the second half, the 6-foot-5 wing raised his level of play over the final 20 minutes against Clemson.

He made three of his six field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, while collecing nine of his points and seven rebounds after halftime. The Wolfpack needed every bit of to help hold off the Tigers, who made the game interesting down the stretch after trailing by as many as 15 points early in the second half.

According to Keatts, there's a reason Bryce got so much better as the game went on.

"I had no intention in playing him 40 minutes, but I think early on he was pacing himself himself and figure out what kind of condition he's in," Keatts said. "A lot of times athletes don’t know how much they have and they may not empty the tank. Once they realize there's only a certain amount of time left in the game they realize they can play that long."

With only nine schoarship players on the roster and the possibility of two not being available because of injuries suffered in Saturday's game -- freshman big man Manny Bates to his neck and graduate forward Pat Andree's right ankle -- Bryce said he's ready to play 40 minutes again on Monday in State's quick turnaround game at Virginia.

"We're a couple down right now, but we have a next man up mentality," Bryce said. "We have to play the game no matter what and we're still looking forward to winning. We're going to get back into the gym (on Sunday) and get back to work."