By Will Vandervort.

As Clemson approaches the second half of the ACC season, head coach Brad Brownell and his staff has the difficult task of making sure his star players do not fall victim to fatigue, both mentally and physically.

“There is a little bit of concern that we have to be careful,” Brownell said on Tuesday as he and the Tigers prepare for Wednesday’s game at NC State. “We are trying to monitor some of the guys and even when we are out there, we are mixing in reps as much as we can. But, there are some guys that are certainly going to have to log more minutes. I do think it affects guys differently.”

So far this season guard Rod Hall leads the team by playing 635 minutes of the 19 games or 33.4 minutes per game. Forward Jaron Blossomgame has logged 599 minutes or 31.5 per game. Freshman Donte Grantham is third, averaging 30.6 minutes per night.

“Donte was feeling it a little bit about a week or ten days ago,” Brownell said. “He was a little tired, but he looks better this week. He seems to be good and he isn’t complaining about anything. I worried about him, but I think he is okay, again. I hope he can make it through the year feeling good about himself and feeling good about his legs and mind – just the wear and tear.

“It is just not all physical. It is a wearing affect mentally for young players.”

Grantham has seemed to have bounced back nicely. He has led the Tigers in scoring in each of the last three games, including 13 in last Saturday’s win over Wake Forest. He also had 16 versus Syracuse and 11 against Florida State.

But the same cannot be said for Blossomgame, whose numbers have slipped in three of the last four games. After scoring at least 10 points in 12 straight games earlier this season, the redshirt sophomore has failed to reach double digits in points twice the last four times out.

Against Wake Forest, the Tigers’ leading scorer was held to a season-low eight points and a season-low four rebounds. After going 6 of 10 from the floor in the Syracuse game he was 3 of 10 from the field against FSU and 3 of 8 in the Wake Forest game.

This is the first year Blossomgame has gone an entire season from spring and summer workouts through the season. The previous two years he missed spring and summer workouts due to complications from a broken leg he suffered in the summer of 2012.

“I have been in a little slump the last two games, but I don’t expect that to affect me the rest of the season,” he said. “I have been getting treatment all hours of the day. I have been resting a lot and drinking a lot of water and staying hydrated.

“I don’t think that is affecting me, really.”

But Brownell cannot take that chance.

“Certainly, JB is a guy we have to watch,” the Clemson coach said. “He is still relatively a young player. The position he plays, he is involved in a lot of physical play and he is a little undersized and sometimes that even takes a little more out of you.”

Hall played all 40 minutes against Syracuse and 37 minutes against FSU. Early foul trouble in the second half against Wake Forest caused the senior to sit longer than normal, but he still played 35 minutes in helping Clemson to victory.

Hall is averaging 36.5 minutes per night in the last six games.

“Rod is able to handle it better. He has been through a lot and he knows what to expect,” Brownell said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have to be careful with him because we do.”