Maryland basketball lands former Virginia Tech guard Rodney Rice

Maryland basketball added a significant piece to next season's back court Sunday morning, as former Virginia Tech guard Rodney Rice announced his commitment to head coach Kevin Willard and the Terps.

A native of Clinton, Md., Rice began his high school career at Bullis in Potomac, Md. before finishing out his prep career at famed DeMatha Catholic just down the road for College Park in Hyattsville, Md.

While at DeMatha, Rice played for former Terps assistant Mike Jones, who was recently named the head coach at Old Dominion.

Rice averaged 18.5 points per game during his tenure at DeMatha and was named First Team All-Met as a senior after leading the Stags in scoring. Coming out of high school, he originally chose Virginia Tech over Louisville, Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Maryland. He was 72nd ranked player overall in the 2022 Rivals150 and was the No. 12-ranked point guard in his class, according to Rivals.

While Rice only played in eight games as a freshman during the 2022-2023 season due to injury, he averaged 7.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in just under 20 minutes of action per game. Highlights of his freshman season included an 11-point outing at Duke in which he went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and a 17-point performance versus NC State in which he went 5-of-7 from three-point range.

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound guard left the Virginia Tech program ahead of the 2023-2024 season and returned home to Maryland where he worked out privately.

The addition of Rice, known as a knock-down shooter, is a big one for a Maryland team that struggled shooting the ball from three-point range, as they finishing the season ranked 347th out of 362 teams in three-point percentage according to KenPom.

Rice is the first portal addition for Willard and the Terps this offseason but won't be the last. Maryland hosted Belmont guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie, the No. 16-ranked player in the transfer portal according to ESPN, on an official visit Saturday.

The Terps have seen three players exit the program through the transfer portal so far this offseason in Noah Batchelor (Buffalo), Caelum Swanton-Rodger and Jahnathan Lamothe. With the addition of Rice the Terps currently have two open scholarships remaining, but those numbers are fluid.