NC State’s bench steps up, LJ Thomas’ role continues to grow

Last season, NC State relied on Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner to play upwards of 35 minutes a night to win games each night. 

But that is different this season. The Wolfpack have only had three instances of a player on the floor for more than 35 minutes in a regulation contest. 

Graduate guard Casey Morsell logged two of those with 36 minutes against Vanderbilt and nearly 37 minutes against BYU. Graduate forward DJ Burns played just over 35 minutes against the Cougars in Las Vegas as well. 

That’s it. 

NC State even had a game where no player on the floor recorded more than 30 minutes of action — a 72-59 win to open the season against The Citadel. 

Why the turn of events? NC State has a deeper bench this season. 

The Pack has received 20 or more points from its bench in five of the team’s first nine games this season, and it has gotten at least 10 or more in the other four contests. NC State had a season-best 33 from its bench against Maryland Eastern Shore last week. 

As the red and white’s bench continues to produce, it has seen an increased output from Kansas transfer MJ Rice and sophomore LJ Thomas. Rice scored 11 in his season debut against the Hawks, while Thomas had 10 in that contest. The duo followed that up with 13 combined points the following game, a 81-67 win over UT Martin on Tuesday night. 

For Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts, the early-season depth is a good luxury to have as the team works itself into a nine- to 10-man rotation.

“I don’t know if it’s the most depth, but it’s the most depth that we’ve had late in December,” Keatts said after the dominant win over the Skyhawks. “I do like the fact that we can play a lot of guys.”

Rice, who missed the first seven games as he returned from his time away from the team, took a few minutes to get going in his debut. But he finished that one with an efficient 5-for-6 shooting performance against Maryland Eastern Shore. 

He followed that with a quick 7 points in his first three minutes on the floor against UT Martin on Tuesday night. 

“MJ is trying to figure it out,” Keatts said. “I’m trying to play him at two positions. He’s trying to figure out where to go. … He’s going to be really good, but right now he’s running around. As he gets comfortable with more practice time, he’s going to be really good for us.”

Thomas’ role has grown over the past four games, appearing for at least six minutes in each of them. He has scored in three of the contests: 7 points at Ole Miss, 10 against Maryland Eastern Shore and 5 against UT Martin. 

Thomas’ ability to be the reserve point guard off the bench has proven to be useful when other Wolfpack guards are not shooting the ball well. Against UT Martin, Stanford transfer Michael O’Connell was more of a distributor with three assists, but Thomas came in for spurts and shot 50% from the field in 10 minutes of action. 

That kind of play from Thomas might continue to warm him more minutes as the season progresses.

“He’s starting to get a groove,” Keatts said of Thomas. “The one thing that can always help you is sitting on that bench will make you get a little bit motivated. I think LJ is starting to get motivated.”

Thomas, who averaged 9.3 minutes last season as a freshman, has continued to work in practice to earn more playing time in the Pack’s games. 

“I just focused on my game,” Thomas said. “[I’m] not really focused on what’s been going on. I’m focused on whatever my opportunity is. I just keep grinding in practice and I never get down. I just be me when I get the opportunity.”

It seems that Thomas has been able to take advantage of the opportunities in his playing time. The Plant City, Fla., native is already a third of the way to his made 3-point total from last season with a trio of triples in his sophomore campaign. 

While Rice and Thomas have provided solid minutes off the bench for the Pack in the past two games, Keatts is looking forward to that unit’s ability to grow as ACC play approaches.

“Our bench is becoming better,” Keatts said. “If we’re truly going to say we have nine or 10 guys, then all of those guys have to develop and be able to play together.”