Maryland Basketball: Is Rodney Rice the Terps’ Most Important Player?

Maryland Basketball: Is Rodney Rice the Terps’ Most Important Player?

Kevin Willard hit the transfer portal hard after a disappointing 2023-24 season for Maryland Basketball. Four of the Terps’ starters are newcomers: Belmont transfer Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Virginia Tech transfer Rodney Rice, South Florida transfer Selton Miguel, and freshman Derik Queen. While Gillespie, Queen, and returning big Julian Reese have been the shining stars for this team, Rodney Rice has a case to be Maryland’s most important player when considering both the eye test and the analytics.

The Eye Test

A massive question mark for Maryland Basketball entering the season was how well Derik Queen and Julian Reese would fit together on the floor. The two-big pairing had the potential to drastically hurt the Terps’ spacing, a daunting possibility given Maryland’s three-point woes last season. Kevin Willard’s squad shot 28.9% from deep in the 2023-24 campaign, the 16th-worst mark in the country and third-worst among power conference teams. The Terps also finished outside the top 150 in adjusted offensive efficiency per KenPom.

Rice entered as somewhat of an unknown quantity and played his way into the starting lineup just a few games into the season. He has been an extremely important floor spacer for this Maryland team. A confident shooter, he not only opens up space for Queen and Reese to operate down low, but he also converts at a high enough percentage (~35% as of this writing) to be an active weapon himself.

While the success of Maryland’s offense thus far can certainly be attributed to several factors, the addition of a shotmaking wing like Rodney Rice should be recognized as a primary one. We saw what the Terps’ offense looked like without that type of player last season, and it sure wasn’t pretty.

The Analytics

CBB Analytics recently posted a list of the top three-man lineup combos in the Big Ten based on Net Rating. Every Maryland trio that made the list includes Rodney Rice.

Rodney Rice is currently a top-20 player in the Big Ten per EvanMiya’s BPR. With the additional context of the crucial spacing he provides Maryland, he has an argument to be even higher.

A few weeks ago, CBB Analytics listed Rodney Rice as the Big Ten’s top player in their RAPM “all-around” metric. While these numbers aren’t current, it’s clear that Maryland Basketball is simply better with Rice on the floor.

Rodney Rice’s Importance

While Rice may not be Maryland’s most talented or most productive player, his impact on the Terrapins is undeniable. It may very well be that Gillespie, Queen, or Reese’s impact is more readily realized due to their usage and raw production, making those players “more important” in a vacuum, but Maryland Basketball has a diamond in the rough with Rodney Rice. The shooting he provides makes the Terps’ offense unrecognizable from a season ago. He may even help them contend for the Big Ten crown.

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