Indiana basketball guard Myles Rice first member of 2024 class to arrive on campus

Indiana basketball had one of the best offseasons from any team around college basketball this spring and that translated into the No. 2 transfer class. They also have the No. 14 overall class with the combination of transfers and high school recruits.

Breaking down 2023 Nebraska basketball commit Eli Rice

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One of the key offseason additions was Washington State guard Myles Rice. Rice was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year last season averaging 14.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

Not only was he the first transfer to announce his commitment to Indiana basketball, he is also the first member of the class of 2024 to arrive on campus. Rice posted numerous instagram stories over the weekend about him on campus. One included his locker, which is between five-star freshman Bryson Tucker and Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year Mackenzie Mgbako. Rice will be wearing No. 1 next year.

Rice is a terrific scorer off of the dribble and can create shots for himself using ball screens or creation on his own. He has great length and quickness to allow him to get into the lane and finish at the rim with great effectiveness. He scores .800 points per possession when he is the ball handler in a screen and roll. He scores 1.15 points per possession in transition with his quickness. While Rice is not a great spot up shooter, he has the ability to be a streaky perimeter player.

While he wasn’t put in a full isolation setting often — only six percent of his possessions — he scored 1.15 points per possession which ranked in the 89th percentile. But, his ability to break opponents down off of the dribble is something Indiana was missing a season ago.

Related: Indiana Basketball Player Scouting Report: Myles Rice

Rice can make a living at the rim and did so last year with 37 percent of his field goal attempts came at the rim last year, finishing with a 63 percent rate.

His ability to make plays for his teammates is an underrated part of his game as well. He finished last year with an assist rate of 22.7 percent, eighth in the Pac-12.

“Myles is a savvy, downhill guard that really succeeds in pick-and-roll situations,” Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson said of Rice. “He is a three-level scorer that makes the right play consistently, whether that is getting to the rim or finding the open man. He is going to be a huge help for our ballclub.”

Rice is a terrific scoring guard who had six 20+ point games last year, including a 35-point performance against Stanford. He was in double-figures in 27-of-35 games this past year.

For Field of 68 co-founder and analyst Rob Dauster, he thinks Rice has ‘All-American potential’ this year for Indiana.

“We’ll see how (Mike) Woodson puts this all together but Indiana absolutely has put together a roster that will set the expectation level quite high,” Dauster wrote on social media. “I think Myles Rice has All-American potential.”

There’s no question Rice will have an enormous impact for Indiana basketball this upcoming season. He brings a skillset that Indiana has rarely had at the guard position for many years.

The remainder of the 2024 class is expected to arrive over the next week with workouts expected to begin the first week of June.

SEE ALSO: Indiana basketball is likely done — for the immediate future — with its 2024 class. Here’s what Mike Woodson had to say about his additions

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