Former Nebraska Guard Eli Rice Commits to Penn State
Rice played in 17 games for the Cornhuskers as a freshman, shooting 37 percent from 3-point range.
Eli Rice, a 6-8 guard who played in 17 games for Nebraska as a freshman, is transferring to Penn State for the 2024-25 college basketball season. Rice announced his decision on Instagram, becoming the third player to transfer to the Nittany Lions this offseason.
Rice, from Gallatin, Tennessee, averaged 4.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 10 minutes per game in his one season with the Cornhuskers. Rice sustained an ankle injury in January that caused him to miss the last 13 games of Nebraska's season. He shot 41.3 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3-point range. Rice scored a season-high 16 points against Florida A&M and 11 points, on 4 of 7 shooting, against Iowa.
Prior to signing with Nebraska, Rice played one season with IMG Academy's post-graduate team in 2023. He averaged 19 points and 7 rebounds for an IMG team that went 24-3. The 247Sports Composite graded Rice as a 3-star prospect in the transfer portal. Rice entered the portal in late March.
Penn State coach Mike Rhoades, who built his first team from the NCAA Transfer Portal, has secured three commits so far in his second team. Rice joins Xavier's Kachi Nzeh and Northern Illinois' Yanic Konan Niederhauser in committing to the Nittany Lions. Rhoades is refreshing a roster that lost four players to the portal. The Nittany Lions went 16-17 in their first season under Rhoades.
“We're going to try to get specific needs, and because of the experience we've had really the last two years with this, we could maybe pinpoint some things to our needs a little bit better, a little bit more,” Rhoades said after the season.
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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich.
