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Maryland Basketball: Rodney Rice goes off on Illinois following Big Ten snub

After being snubbed from the All-Big Ten team, Maryland's Rodney Rice sent a big message on Friday night against Illinois.
Chris Breiler|
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Maryland Terrapins

Given how important sophomore guard Rodney Rice has been to Maryland this season, it came as a shock that he was left off of the All-Big Ten team this week. When Rice was asked about it, he said that it created a chip on his shoulder.

"It doesn't bother me," Rice said. But I thought it was really crazy. I'm definitely going into [the Big Ten tournament] with a chip on my shoulder."

Unfortunately for Illinois, that chip on Rice's shoulder showed up in a very big way on Friday night.

Rice came out firing on all cylinders, scoring 14 of Maryland's first 24 points, and he finished the first half with a game-high 18 points. He continued to shoot well from the floor in the second half, finishing the evening with 26 points on 8/12 shooting from the floor (7/9 beyond the arc).

Following Maryland's dominant 86-65 win over Illinois, Rice was asked if tonight's performance sent a message to the Big Ten.

"It's definitely a lot of motivation knowing that I should have been on that [All-Big Ten]t. But I'm going to let my game do the talking and keep on moving forward."

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Chris Breiler
CHRIS BREILER

Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. In January of 2025, he took over as Publisher for Maryland On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.

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