Indiana Basketball Player Scouting Report: Myles Rice

As it was announced on Saturday, Washington State transferred guard Myles Rice has committed to play for Mike Woodson and Indiana basketball for the upcoming 2023-24 college season. The commitment of Rice was Indiana’s first out of the transfer portal this offseason.

Indiana basketball beat out Auburn, who was the other school that was highly involved with Rice. The Hoosiers now have five open scholarships remaining for the 2023-24 season.

He has three years of eligibility remaining.

Rice, who is originally from Atlanta, Georgia, is coming off a season which saw him average 14.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game this past season, ultimately leading him to becoming the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in his one active season at Washington State. He redshirted his first year on compass due to Hodgkin lymphoma.

He shot 43.9 percent from the floor, 27.5 percent from three and 81.1 percent from the foul line on 3.6 free throw attempts per game.

He comes from the Atlanta Celtics — the same AAU program that former Indiana basketball wing Kaleb Banks — so there were ties there with assistant coach Yasir Rosemond, who was the leader in this recruitment. Rice played for Sandy Creek High School in Georgia with him and Rosemond having built a relationship back then.

The 6-foot-3 guard was only rated as a three-star player coming out of high school. His only high major offer was Washington State choosing the Cougars over James Madison, Georgia State, Belmont, and others.

Rice was one of the top rated guards in the transfer portal this offseason after breaking nearly every freshman record at Washington State this past year which included the single-season scoring, assists, steals, field goals, and free throw records. His unbelievable play led Washington State to the NCAA Tournament as a 7-seed.

With Indiana basketball looking to make an instant improvement in the backcourt from last year to this upcoming season, Rice coming in should almost instantly help in that group. He is one of the more dynamic guards on both ends of the floor and comes in with experience on how to lead a team to the NCAA Tournament with just only being an underclassman. He plays with maturity and a very solid on-court IQ.

Starting with the offensive end of the floor, Indiana basketball finally gets another dynamic, playmaking guard that can do many things on the ball. For one thing, Rice is a terrific scorer off the dribble and create so well on the ball. He creates his own looks, especially utilizing ball screens, but can also create for others, as well, something that the Hoosiers missed heavily last season.

In his lone, active season for Washington State, he 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. 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.

Here is the thing however that needs to be said right now, Rice is not going to be the savior when it comes to fixing Indiana basketball’s three-point shooting. His perimeter field goal percentage was on around 27 percent, not great at all. The promising part of this issue is that he had 10 games with at least two made 3s and four with at least three 3s.

He attempted 4.5 threes per game last year so the volume of him shooting the three ball is not the current issue, it just comes down to consistency, which is fixable. He is at his best when he can use his length, quickness, and athletic ability to get in the lane, finish at the rim and also in transition where he scored 1.15 points per possession.

Mike Woodson emphasized last season that he wanted to play out in transition however, you need playmaking guards to do that. Last year, Woodson did not have that for the majority…..now he does in Rice.

On the defensive side, you are getting a very active defender that can pressure the on-ball guard. Like mentioned above, one of Rice’s best areas in his game is his ability to do damage in transition. The way he gets out in transition is by using his active hands, pressuring the ball, and jumping the passing lanes.

Rice averaged 1.6 steal per game last season. The leading player in steals for Indiana basketball last season was Trey Galloway with his 1.2 a game. Again, another area that Indiana improves in.

To sum a lot of this up, Mike Woodson and Indiana basketball got themselves one of the craftiest and high-upside guards in the entire country. Rice took the Pac-12 by storm last season and with the momentum he has as a player, the Hoosiers only benefit from that.

Mike Woodson needed to upgrade the backcourt of Indiana basketball if he wanted to see success this season. There is still much more work to do, but Indiana just got another piece that makes them a better team.

Below are full highlights of Washington State transfer guard Myles Rice.

SEE ALSO: Breaking down each upcoming transfer portal visit for Indiana basketball

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