Iowa's Bryce Cartwright brings balance, toughness to Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY - Bryce Cartwright waited for the perfect opportunity last spring and it took much longer than he expected.

Cartwright, a junior point guard, had several scholarship offers from Division I programs but wanted to wait until a high-level opportunity came his way. That's when Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery landed at Cartwright's junior-college doorstep in Paris, Texas nearly two months after national signing day.

“Part of the reason why he was still available in June was in his mind he was a Big Ten player; he wasn't a mid-major player,” McCaffery said. “And up until that point those were the only offers he had. He was willing to wait. ‘Something is going to happen, something is going to pop up that gives me the opportunity to be on the stage that I feel I deserve to be on.'

“When he came here for his visit, he conducted himself with class and character and we knew he was an athlete. He got an opportunity to go from a guy who was probably going to play in the 20-to-25 minute range to the 35-to-40 minute range, and he's made the best of it.”

Since taking over for injured guard Cully Payne after five games, Cartwright has become Iowa's indestructible guard. Cartwright averages 31.3 minutes a game, second-most on the team. He's has provided court leadership in a variety of ways, most notably with his toughness.

On Friday as the team prepared for its trip to Illinois, Cartwright came down with a 24-hour virus and couldn't eat in either of the team's two meals. He was vomiting, suffered from a high fever and could only sleep. By Saturday morning, he felt better. He was able to eat and attended the team's shootaround.

“I just wanted to play and be out there with my team,” Cartwright said.

Cartwright said he was “90, 85” percent but started the game and totaled 32 minutes against the Fighting Illini. He scored eight points, dished nine assists, grabbed five rebounds and snagged two steals in a 13-point loss to Illinois. He hit his sixth first-half buzzer-beating shot this season - one was overturned on replay - to send Iowa into the locker room by only five points.

“When you think about what he did on Saturday - eight points, nine assists - after being in bed the entire day before, he couldn't practice, he's throwing up, he's got a fever ... that's a tough kid right there,” McCaffery said.

Among Big Ten point guards, Cartwright ranks third overall in assists with 5.7 a game. In Big Ten action, he's the only player with more than 100 assists (101) and leads the league per game with 6.7.

Cartwright had perhaps his best game Feb. 2 in a 72-52 pounding of Michigan State, which plays host to Iowa tonight. Cartwright had his only career double-double at Iowa with 12 points and 10 assists. He hit 6-of-12 shots and also grabbed three rebounds that night.

“One of the reasons why we thought he could be good was No. 1 he had talent, but No. 2 he had character,” McCaffery said. “I spent some time talking to his father who coached him growing up and just a terrific guy. He grew up in the gym - his father ran a rec center - so here's a guy who grew up in the gym, played in Compton, a competitive situation, really good high school program, really competitive AAU, and never backed off competition.”