Off the court, he likes building Lego sets.
Within the past year, he has assembled a Star Wars Captain Rex helmet and Marvel Infinity Gauntlet, both of which remain in his room. Growing up, he found peace drawing in art class — the abstraction and creativity engrossed him.
He acted in plays in elementary school and was later involved in student council.
On the court, he’s lightning-quick in transition and an insatiable defender. He limits trash talk, but likes to say he kills his opponents with a smile.
That’s Myles Rice, Indiana’s highly touted transfer point guard from Washington State and someone who has already rooted himself as a leader on a revamped 2024-25 Hoosiers roster.
“You’re never around the same people every year, or every moment,” Rice said at Indiana’s Media Day on Sept. 18. “Just being able to be comfortable in your skin and be a leader no matter where you’re at, I think that carries over to here.”
Rice is bubbly and outgoing, traits he said he inherited from his mother, Tamara. He’s also comfortable in his skin and someone who’s been mature beyond his years since he was little.
At Big Ten Media Days on Oct. 3 in Rosemont, Illinois, Rice sported white polish on his fingernails and donned a crisp navy pinstripe suit, roaming the halls of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center with a camcorder in hand.
Rice has never cared much for outside perceptions. He’s everything the Hoosiers needed in a backcourt starving for leadership and experience, but perhaps most importantly, an identity.
“There is a streak of cockiness in there that I think you have to have at that level in order to be successful, to be an alpha,” Jon-Michael Nickerson, Rice’s coach from Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Georgia, told Inside the Hall. “He’s very familiar with himself. He knows who he is as a person.”
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With in-person recruiting limited in 2020 due to COVID-19, Rice wasn’t regarded as a budding star by colleges around the country.
He was a late bloomer and flew under the radar despite faring well against standouts like Bruce Thornton (Ohio State) and Scoot Henderson (Portland Trailblazers).
Rice’s only high-major offer, Nickerson says, came from Washington State in “a freaking email.”
But those around Sandy Creek and the Atlanta area knew better. Jakai Newton grew up in the same neighborhood as Rice, attended the same middle school and played on the same AAU circuit.
Newton — now a redshirt freshman at Indiana — didn’t need much to see Rice’s speed. To see his enticing potential.
“I’ve known Myles since we were little,” Newton said. “He’s always been super-fast, super quick. You can definitely tell when he’s got that ball in his hand. If you can’t keep up, he gon’ leave you in the dust.”
Indiana wants to run this year, more so than in previous seasons. Mike Woodson said he’s been toying with small ball lineups and with the addition of capable shooters like Rice, Luke Goode and Kanaan Carlyle, the Hoosiers are hoping to modernize things offensively after being hamstrung by stagnant play last year.
Rice is at the forefront of that change.
As a first-team All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 All-freshman honoree in 2023-24, Rice averaged just under 15 points to go along with 3.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals. His efforts spearheaded Washington State’s first trip to the NCAA tournament in 16 years.
Indiana’s backcourt struggles, meanwhile, were no secret. The pace was often slow and the shooting was streaky. Now, armed with the personnel to speed up, the Hoosiers are placing an emphasis on beating teams in transition and producing as many possessions as possible.
“It’s more so about us dictating how we want to play versus adapting,” Rice said. “We want to be the initiator. When it comes to playing in the Big Ten, it is a little bit slower, but we’re not here to play a little bit slower.”
Expectations are lofty for Indiana, which checked in at No. 17 in the preseason AP poll released Monday. They’re also lofty for Rice, who’s garnered praise — and an impressive comparison — from Woodson.
“There’s a little (Allen) Iverson overtone in terms of how he plays,” Woodson said. “I think pound for pound, Allen Iverson was the best little scorer that’s ever played in the NBA.”
Given the program’s history, playing point guard for Indiana carries an obvious weight. It spoke volumes that Rice earned the captain title from Woodson without logging a single second of game time for the Hoosiers.
But the immediate infusion of leadership isn’t entirely surprising. Rice said he’s felt like a leader since he was two or three years old and while he’s outgoing and his voice demands the respect of teammates, he too can be aptly described as a grinder.
In high school, his teammates often hated practicing with him. Rice attacked every rep at full speed, with full intensity — even against a star like Jabari Smith, a 2022 No. 3 overall draft pick to the Houston Rockets.
“I personally thought he was the best perimeter defender in the state that year,” Nickerson said. “I always liked how tough he was and how rugged he was. He played different than most AAU guys. AAU guys played for highlights and offers, he played for winning.”
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When Rice entered the transfer portal on March 28, he was searching for authenticity.
A few weeks later on his IU visit, Rice sat at Uptown Cafe with his parents and Woodson on one side of the table and the rest of the coaching staff on the other. The player and the coach bonded over their fandom of the Dallas Cowboys.
He was sold.
“He treated me like family,” Rice said of Woodson. “He treated my mom and my dad like family. That was the biggest thing for me.”
That authenticity was paramount for someone who, after redshirting his freshman season, missed the entirety of 2022-23 while receiving treatment for a form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He was diagnosed on Sept. 12, 2022 and underwent his last chemotherapy treatment on March 9, 2023.
The perspective Rice gained from his bout with cancer was invaluable. He developed a routine once he was in remission, including journaling his thoughts every morning and assessing how the rest of his day went.
Smiling and preaching positivity are two of Rice’s daily reminders. His outlook on life, and the battle he faced at just 20 years old, is unique. Before last season, though he was cleared at the beginning of the summer, it wasn’t exactly clear what kind of role Rice would have on Washington State.
“Heading into last year, I was just happy to be out there playing,” Rice said.
Now, at Indiana, Rice said he wants to play as an extension of Woodson on the court as the leader, offensive initiator and defensive “pest” he was recruited to be. His role is clear, both in terms of his play and his leadership.
Rice discussed the latter with Woodson before committing to Indiana on April 13. Perhaps more important than anything on this year’s team will be chemistry. During the summer, through cookouts and fishing trips, the Hoosiers took considerable steps to develop that aspect.
At the core of it all was Rice.
Trey Galloway — the most experienced member of Indiana’s backcourt — saw Rice take over leadership duties from day one. He’s played with NBA draft picks Kel’el Ware, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino, and yet, the way he’s seen Rice command the team is rare.
“It’s been tough to have a vocal leader like him because there’s no one like him,” Galloway said. “Just the way he is able to talk to guys and be that influencer on the court is very special to see.”
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
Filed to: Myles Rice
