Rodney Rice hadn’t played a college basketball game in 600 days.
After an injury-riddled freshman campaign at Virginia Tech, the 6-foot-4 guard sat out his sophomore season and entered the transfer portal in March.
The Clinton native joined Maryland men’s basketball shortly after. At the Terps’ media day in October, Rice set simple goals for himself returning from a long hiatus: to stay healthy and play basketball again. He expected to be a little rusty initially, and said he may need a few games to get back into the flow of things.
He turned out to need just one half in Maryland’s season opener against Manhattan on Monday.
Despite missing his three first-half shot attempts, Rice found his groove in the second period where the Terps outscored the Jaspers by 27 points. He tied for the team lead in the second half with 11 points.
“That first half was a little rough,” Rice said. “But I had to… get my feet wet, come out the next half and get to it.”
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Rice replaced an injured Selton Miguel to start the second half. His first shot was a straightaway 3-pointer off a pass from Ja’Kobi Gillespie less than two minutes after the break.
He uncorked the shot over Manhattan guard Jaden Winston, his former high school teammate at nearby DeMatha Catholic — a full circle moment for Rice’s first bucket as a Terp. He held his follow through as the ball traveled toward the hoop, watching it sink through the net before releasing his stance.
Rice finished the game with 12 points in 24 minutes. The guard was Maryland’s third-leading scorer behind Gillespie and freshman center Derik Queen.
Coach Kevin Willard wasn’t surprised by Rice’s performance. He said Rice was Maryland’s best player in practice the past two weeks after spraining his ankle in June and taking a bit of time to ramp up.
“I have great confidence in him,” Willard said. “For him to come out after being out that long and playing the way he did — the way I’m looking at things, those are all really good positives.”
Rice has drawn praise from Willard for his scoring ability. That was shown after halftime, as he made four of his six field goal attempts and drained two of Maryland’s three 3-pointers.
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“He keeps the game really simple,” Willard said. “He’s going to shoot it or he’s going to create offense off the dribble.”
Rice’s final bucket of the night, though, was more based on pure will.
He collided with forward Tafara Gapare while pursuing an offensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer. After falling to the floor and springing back up, Rice corralled the ball from a pile of four players, pounded a dribble into his defender’s chest and rose for a one-handed layup.
Rice watched the ball float through the air, rattle around the rim and fall through the net. He let out a fiery roar under the basket — perhaps one that released 20 months of frustration.
Rice didn’t want to watch basketball while he was away from the game. He took solace in his ability to go to the gym and improve his craft. He couldn’t wait to take the court again.
After a restless 600 days, Rice is back.
“Oh man, it felt great,” he said. “[I’m] just playing like myself, playing free.”
