Pac 12’s top freshman, Rice, commits to IU
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball landed a verbal commitment from highly prized Washington State freshman guard Myles Rice on Saturday afternoon.
He’s the first transfer to verbally commit to the Hoosiers this cycle as they look to fill six open scholarship spots.
Rice was named the Pac 12 Freshman of the Year after averaging 14.8 points (he was a 81.1% free throw shooter), 3.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists while starting in all 35 of his team’s games. He also earned freshman All-American honors, the first player from his school to achieve the honor since Klay Thompson in 2009.
Washington State finished 25-10 (14-6, second in the Pac 12) and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament. It was the team’s best season since 200708. Rice broke a long list of program records during the 2023-24 season includBLOOMINGTON ing the single-season freshman records for scoring, steals and assists.
The South Carolina native was originally a 3-star prospect in the 2021 signing class coming out of Sandy Creek High School in Georgia. He redshirted as a true freshman then received a medical redshirt the following year after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Rice was cleared and in remission as of June 2023.
The only Power Five offer he received at the time was from Washington State, but he was one of the highest ranked players in the portal during this recruiting cycle. He was one of seven players from Washington State, one of the two teams remaining in the Pac 12, to enter the transfer portal after head coach Kyle Smith left for Stanford.
“After reflecting on the changes in the Washington State men’s basketball program, I have made the difficult decision to enter my name in the transfer portal,” Rice said on social media. “To my teammates, we shared a special brotherhood, amazing moments and life stories that I will cherish forever.”
Indiana was in the market for guard help with the departure of Xavier Johnson, who was out of eligibilty, and CJ Gunn entering the transfer portal.
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