Former Virginia Tech and DeMatha guard Rodney Rice transferred to Maryland men’s basketball on Sunday, he told On3 and 247Sports.
Rice spent three years at DeMatha and committed to Virginia Tech in October 2021. He played just eight games during an injury-riddled freshman year in Blacksburg, but scored a career-high 17 points in an ACC tournament loss to NC State.
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Rice left the program in October 2023 before his sophomore season and recently entered the transfer portal. He selected Maryland despite receiving offers from other high-major teams including Oregon, South Carolina and Georgetown, according to 247Sports.
Rice is the Terps’ first addition in the transfer portal this offseason — Maryland now has two remaining scholarship spots open after Noah Batchelor, Caelum Swanton-Rodger and Jahnathan Lamothe’s departures.
His addition could provide the Terps with some perimeter shooting and needed guard depth after Jahmir Young’s graduation, but Rice has played sparingly in his two years at the collegiate level.
The 6-foot-4 combo guard shot 13-for-39 from three in his eight games at Virginia Tech, averaging 7.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
[Jahmir Young didn’t get the Maryland ending he deserved]
Rice was a four-star recruit and the No. 3 player from Maryland in the class of 2022 and Virignia Tech’s fourth-best commit since at least 2000, per 247Sports’ composite recruiting rankings. He was named a first team All-Met player by The Washington Post during his senior year at DeMatha in 2022, during which he was the Stags’ leading scorer.
Former Maryland assistant Mike Jones coached Rice both as DeMatha’s head coach and a Virginia Tech assistant. Jones, who spent the 2023-24 season on Kevin Willard’s staff in College Park, became Old Dominion’s head coach on March 1.
Rice will be an intriguing addition for Willard and the Terps as another local talent who was highly-rated coming out of high school.
But Rice’s lack of playing time since then could raise questions about how quick or large that impact would be on a team that might need incoming transfers to produce immediately.
The Terps’ top returning scorer is currently projected to be Julian Reese, who averaged 13.7 points per game last season. DeShawn Harris-Smith averaged the second-most points per game of returning players with 7.3.
