New IU assistant coach Kenya Hunter’s impact on the program continues to be noticeable during his early days in Bloomington.
Through Hunter, Indiana has gotten involved with one of the top guards in the class of 2022 in Maryland based prospect Rodney Rice. After a Zoom call on Monday that was reported by Stock Risers, the Hoosiers offered a scholarship.
Rice announced the IU offer on his Twitter page.
Blessed to receive an offer from The University of Indiana⚪️🔴 pic.twitter.com/mqN73wKDvG
— Rodney Rice (@rodneyrice__) August 31, 2020
The 6-foot-4 Rice is ranked No. 70 nationally in the class of 2022 according to the 247Sports Composite.
Maryland, Alabama, Louisville and Miami (Fla.) are some of the other top programs involved with Rice right now.
Rice transferred to DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Md. from The Bullis School, also in Maryland. DeMatha is the same high school that produced Victor Oladipo.
Rice will be teammates at DeMatha this season with Jordan Hawkins, a top-50 class of 2021 guard who Kenya Hunter successfully recruited to play at UConn. Rice and Hawkins are AAU teammates as well. DeMatha is ranked in the top-25 nationally going into the 2020-21 season, and Rice has cited the desire for a higher national profile program as a reason for making the move.
While he is listed as a shooting guard by most recruiting services, Rice has impressive ball handling skills on film and he has stated that he wants to be a point guard.
For his sophomore season at Bullis, Rice averaged 22.9 points and 5 rebounds per game. For AAU Rice plays with Team Durant on the Nike EYBL circuit.
There is at least one tie to Indiana, although it is an unsavory one. Rice’s father, Rodney Rice, Sr., was part of the Richmond team that knocked off Indiana and made the Sweet 16 in 1988.
Rice is the second high profile recruiting target that Hunter has helped place on IU’s radar in the last few days. The Hoosiers also offered class of 2021 5-star Hunter Sallis on Friday.
Rice was one of several of Hunter’s UConn recruiting targets that we mentioned as potential new prospects for IU.
To see all of Indiana’s class of 2021 and 2022 offers, GO HERE.
This video provides more background. It was produced earlier in the summer before Rice transferred and before Indiana got involved.
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