A New Dimension

Rodney Rice touched a basketball before he celebrated his first birthday. 

Growing up in a basketball family was the catalyst. His father, who has the same name, played basketball at Boston College for a season before finishing his collegiate career at Richmond. The senior Rice played for the Spiders from 1985-88, becoming one of the greatest shooters ever to play for the program. 

He led Richmond to its first-ever NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance, a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship, and a school-record 26-win season his senior year. That 1988 team is recognized in the Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame

Rice Sr. scored 1,000 points for the Spiders and remains second all-time in single-season 3-pointers made (85 in 1987-88). He also shot 42.4% from three for his career, ranking second all-time in program history.

Rice Jr. recalls memories from his childhood that showcased how talented a basketball player his father was. 

“I went to a Richmond basketball game and saw him on the Hall of Fame wall,” he said. “That's when I really realized that he was nice. … People would stop us, don't matter where we were, mainly the gym though. They'll be like, ‘You know your dad was cold?’”

Rice would always hear about how good his father was. But more importantly, having a dad who played basketball at a high level molded him into the player he became. The 6-foot-4, 198-pound sophomore guard at Maryland is grateful for all the pointers and motivation he provided him with over the years. 

Rice is averaging 12.6 points on 45.9% shooting from the floor through eight games. In his second appearance with the Terps, he scored a career-high 28 points. He’s also recorded six double-digit scoring games. 

“He's got a great knack to score,” Maryland’s head basketball coach, Kevin Willard, said. “He knows how to score, and he's been working hard, so he's playing well.”

Rice grew up 30 minutes from Maryland’s campus in Clinton, Md. His mom was from Florida, and he spent much time there as a child. He rooted for Miami during the Shane Larkin era and later became a fan of the Terps, watching guys such as Melo Trimble and Anthony Cowan Jr. He even trains with Cowan and refers to him as a close friend. 

He received his first collegiate offer during the summer before eighth grade. His second was from Rhode Island, where David Cox recruited him. Cox is now an assistant for Maryland. It quickly became apparent to Rice that he could play at the next level, as his father did from a very young age. 

Rice began playing AAU with Team Takeover which boasts many of the top basketball players in the DMV. He attended Bullis School from seventh through 10th grade before transferring to DeMatha Catholic High School to play in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) — often regarded as the most competitive conference in the nation. 

He played one of his three seasons at DeMatha under Mike Jones before he joined Virginia Tech as an associate head coach in 2021. Rice averaged 18.5 points per game across his three-year career at DeMatha and developed into a four-star prospect and third-overall player in Maryland in the class of 2022, according to 247Sports. He also earned All-Met honors from The Washington Post during his senior year as the Stags’ leading scorer.

Rice's prior relationship with Jones influenced him to join the Hokies and play under his coach again. Rice maintains a strong relationship with Jones, now Old Dominion's head coach. 

“I still talk to him to this day,” Rice said. “I can go to him for advice, and I know he'll be there for me. He wants to see me do well. He's just a player’s coach, and players like playing for him. He holds players accountable and wants to see his guys do great. He has a lot of pros. He’s just that guy.”

However, Rice’s career at Virginia Tech was brief and accompanied by unforeseen challenges. He broke his ankle the summer before he reported to campus, forcing him to miss the first 16 games of the 2022-23 season. He finally made his collegiate debut on Jan. 11 against Syracuse, but during a practice after the game, he dove onto the floor and broke his finger. 

It was a tough start to a collegiate career for someone with high expectations as a freshman. 

“It was definitely tough,” Rice said. “It was hard because I really didn't want to watch basketball, to be honest with you. I just wanted to be out there. It's like teasing, basically. I just did other things to get my mind off of it.”

Due to injuries, Rice played in just eight games as a freshman. Jones, the man responsible for recruiting him to Virginia Tech, also left for the same job at Maryland during the offseason. Still, Rice vowed to remain with the Hokies. 

Everything pointed to a second-year breakout until a month before the start of the 2023-24 season when he abruptly announced he was stepping away from the team. 

“Things just didn't go as planned,” Rice said. “We just didn’t see eye-to-eye really. I just thought it was best for me to come home and just work on my game, save that year, get better and then get back after it.”

Rice returned to his home in Maryland, essentially taking a gap year from college. He prepared for a second chance and saw College Park as a potential future destination with familiar faces. At the time, Jones was still an assistant for the Terps, and Cox, one of the first to recruit him, was on the Terps’ staff. 

It was those relationships that led Rice to Maryland. He’s now healthier and more confident than ever. He credits being closer to family and his coaching staff and teammates at Maryland with helping him shake off the rust of being away from basketball for a year.  

“The coaches have encouraged me, and I feel that my confidence level when that goes up, I play well,” Rice said. “I just play my game and let the chips fall. Confidence is everything to me. My teammates and coaches instilled that into me, and I feel it. It's making me play better and play well.”

Willard has praised Rice on many occasions. His scoring ability has added a new dimension to the Terps’ offense, and he expects him to continue making an impact. 

“I think the other thing was that one reason he really wanted to come here was he knew he would have some freedom on the offensive end, but also that we were going to be patient with him and work with him to get him back,” he said. “He really liked that aspect of this program that we were going to spend a lot of time on and not put any pressure on him to be a guy that's unreasonable. I think he's played great. I think he's going to continue to get better as he gains more confidence because he's put a lot of hard work in.”