Mike Woodson helped rebuild Indiana basketball's roster on Saturday.
Washington State transfer guard Myles Rice has committed to IU, announcing his decision on Instagram.
Rice, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and an All-Pac-12 first team selection, averaged 14.8 points, 3.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game this season. He ranked in the top five in the Pac-12 in assists and steals (1.6).
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The 6-3 Rice, a member of the 2021 class out of Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Ga., is well known to IU assistant coach Yasir Rosemond, who has made Georgia a strong recruiting force with the acquisitions of Caleb Banks and Jakai. He played AAU with the Atlanta Celtics program. Newton recently moved out of the Atlanta area.
Rice, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, redshirted the 2021-22 season and medically redshirted the 2022-23 season while undergoing treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma.
More than a year and a half after his diagnosis, Rice has emerged as the leader of a Washington State team that achieved its most wins since the 2007-08 season and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2008 season.
“Everything I've been through has made me grateful to be here to play the game I love,” Rice told USA TODAY's Jordan Mendoza.
Chemotherapy treatments were given every two weeks and lasted five hours until the bell rang in March 2023. Then, on June 1, while at his golf course in Georgia with her father, Rice was informed that she was in remission. Rice was overjoyed and returned to the gym the next day to celebrate.
Former WSU coach Kyle Smith, who was recently hired by Stanford, called Rice the team's quarterback and marveled at the player he coached when he was an assistant at Saint Mary's, NBA veteran Patty Mills. He added that they are quite similar.
“They have the same qualities,” Smith said. “They just believe they belong. They're not afraid to make mistakes, they're not afraid to fail. And they keep getting better and better.”
Miles Rice Basketball Highlights
USA TODAY sports writer Jordan Mendoza contributed to this article.