2024-25 IU basketball player profile: Myles Rice

With the start of college basketball season approaching, we’ve moved from our look at other Big Ten programs to our player-by-player previews of the 2024-25 Indiana roster.

Today, our player profiles continue with redshirt sophomore Myles Rice.

Previously: Bryson Tucker, Jakai Newton

Myles Rice was arguably the most important among Indiana’s additions from the transfer portal last spring.

The Hoosiers’ point guard play was a significant deficiency last season. Xavier Johnson, expected to be the team’s on-court leader, was injured and in and out of the lineup for most of the season. Gabe Cupps was not prepared to shoulder the weight of the position as a freshman.

Guard play is essential for success and Indiana’s was not good enough in Mike Woodson’s third season in Bloomington.

In Rice, Indiana has a player who can quickly shore up the point guard position and make it a strength rather than a liability. The 6-foot-3 redshirt sophomore was one of the best stories in the sport last season.

A class of 2021 prospect from Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Georgia, Rice was under-recruited out of high school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. College coaches didn’t get a chance to evaluate him closely in the final summer before his senior year and he ended up with just one high major offer, Washington State.

In his first year at Washington State, Rice redshirted as the Cougars were set at the guard positions with a pair of upperclassmen. The plan was for Rice to use the 2021-22 season for development and then join the rotation in the 2022-23 campaign. But things didn’t go as planned.

Rice was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and missed the 2022-23 season as he underwent treatment. He received his final chemotherapy treatment on March 9, 2023 and was cleared and in remission by June of 2023.

After two seasons on the sidelines in Pullman, Rice wasted no time producing as a redshirt freshman last season at Washington State. He averaged 14.8 points, 3.8 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals and was named Pac-12 freshman of the year, the first in program history for the Cougars. It was a remarkable season for a player who had just beaten cancer months earlier.

Following the season, Washington State coach Kyle Smith was hired by Stanford and Rice went into the transfer portal. With a prior relationship on staff with associate head coach Yasir Rosemond, Indiana worked to get him on campus quickly and landed his commitment on April 13.

“Myles is a savvy, downhill guard that really succeeds in pick-and-roll situations,” Woodson said in April. “He is a three-level scorer that makes the right play consistently, whether that is getting to the rim or finding the open man. He is going to be a huge help for our ballclub, and we are very excited to welcome him and his family to Bloomington.”

Now in his fourth season in college, Rice has three seasons of eligibility remaining but is a veteran in terms of his college experience. He has the ability to be a game-changer for Indiana.

At Washington State, he was one of the best guard defenders in the Pac-12. His length helps him get into passing lanes and his steal percentage of 2.4 last season ranked 14th in the conference.

As a distributor, he led the Cougars with 134 assists and was very effective in the pick-and-roll. He played with two bigs last season at Washington State and will do so again this winter in Bloomington with Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau. Beyond his ability to share the ball, Rice can also create offense for himself. He shot nearly 51 percent on 2s and was effective in the midrange as well.

His 3-point shooting numbers weren’t great – 27.5 percent – but a lengthy slump during the season dragged that percentage down. The hope is Rice can at least shoot in the low 30 percent range from a distance.

Bottom line: Indiana’s point guard should be much better this season with Rice, a first-team All Pac-12 selection last season, at the position. His speed with the ball in his hands makes him a threat from anywhere on the floor and he should also be able to heat up the ball defensively, which the Hoosiers were sorely lacking for most of last season. Rice also has leadership qualities on and off the floor that should quickly make him one of the most respected voices in the locker room.

Quotable: “His speed. It changes the game for us, along with Kanaan (Carlyle), and the fact that he can score the ball. His biggest challenge right now is just really being a solid point guard and making sure he understands there are other players around him that can also help, too. That’s a learning process for a lot of point guards when you’re that young. You gotta include everybody and figure out how to make everybody happy when you got the ball in your hands. It’s just not him, it’s everybody who has the ball because we have a number of guys now that can make plays with the basketball. That helps you.” – Woodson at media day when asked what stands out about Rice.

Media day interview with Rice:

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

Category: Commentary

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