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Rayvonte Rice

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Rayvonte Rice
Tezenis Verona
PositionPoint guard
LeagueSerie A2 Basket
Personal information
Born (1992-07-14) July 14, 1992 (age 32)
Champaign, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight234 lb (106 kg)
Career information
High schoolCentennial (Champaign, Illinois)
CollegeDrake (2010–2012)
Illinois (2013–2015)
NBA draft2015: undrafted
Playing career2015–present
Career history
2015–presentTezenis Verona
Career highlights and awards
  • Honorable mention All-Big Ten (2014)
  • Second-team All-MVC (2012)
  • MVC All-Freshman Team (2011)
  • MVC All-Newcomer Team (2011)
  • 3A IHSA Boys Basketball championship (2009)[1]
  • Gatorade Illinois Boys Basketball Player of the Year (2011)[2]
  • News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year (2010)[3]
  • Unanimous First Team All State AP selection (2010)

Rayvonte "Ray" Rice (born July 14, 1992) is an American basketball player for Tezenis Verona. A guard from Champaign, Illinois who recently completed his college career for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He previously played at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa from 2010-2012 and transferred after his sophomore season.[4]

High School

During his junior season at Centennial High School in Champaign, Rice led the Chargers to the 2009 3A IHSA Boys Basketball Championship with a 61-59 defeat over Oswego High School.[5] During his senior season, Rice averaged 23.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 1.8 assists and led his team back to the IHSA state tournament for a fourth-place finish. After his senior season in 2010, Rice came in second with 201 votes for Illinois Mr. Basketball behind Jereme Richmond.[6] Ironically, Richmond committed to play at the University of Illinois while Rice was never offered a scholarship by then coach, Bruce Weber. Richmond only stayed at Illinois for one season, and current Coach John Groce offered Rice a scholarship to transfer from Drake after his sophomore season.

Rice was named a member of the 2010 Illinois All-American Team as selected by the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, News-Gazette, and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. He was also named the 2010 News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year, the first from Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area since 1984.[7]

Rice left Centennial as the all-time leading scorer in both school history and in Champaign-Urbana high school prep history with 1,810 career points.[8]

"Man, I grew up watching guys like Dee [Brown], Deron [Williams] and Luther [Head]," Rice said. "I used to dream about putting on an Illini uniform, running out of that tunnel and hearing all the fans cheering for us. I never want to take this damn uniform off, it's a feeling I can't explain. I give all I can to this school, and I want the fans to remember the way I remember those guys; sometimes I still can't believe it, more like a dream, I love this school man you just don't know."

—Rayvonte Rice on transferring to Illinois[9]

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Rayvonte Rice
SG 		Champaign, IL Centennial High School 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sep 11, 2009 
Recruiting star ratings: Scout:3/5 stars   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 85
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: #35 (SG)   Rivals: N/A  ESPN: #89 (SG)
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  • "ESPN - Drake Bulldogs Basketball Recruiting 2010". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  • "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  • "2010 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2014-01-04.

College

Freshman Year

During his first year at Drake, Rice made an immediate impact, playing in 31 games and averaging 13.8 ppg and shooting an average of just over 40% from the field.[10] For his contributions to his team, Rice was voted to the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman Team & the All-Newcomers Team.

Sophomore Year

Rice improved his second year at Drake averaging 16.8 ppg and shooting about 44% from the field.[11] Rice was named to the 2012 Second-Team Missouri Valley Conference following the season.

Transfer Year

After announcing his decision to transfer from Drake, Rice narrowed down his options between Illinois, Xavier, Memphis, and Marquette. Rice said of his decision to sign with Illinois, that John Groce had previously recruited him while Groce was still coach at Ohio University which contributed to his commitment.[12]

Due to NCAA transfer rules, Rice was forced to sit out during the 2012-2013 season. The transfer regulations relegated Rice to attend only practices as a participant and home games at the State Farm Center as an observer. Rice has gained much notoriety for his transfer year as he made drastic changes to his workouts & diet, which resulted in him losing 45 pounds and cutting his overall body fat to 5%.[13][14][15]

Redshirt Junior Year

During the 2013-2014 season has been twice named Big Ten Player of the Week. As of January 3, 2014 Rice is leading the conference in scoring, averaging 19 ppg.[16]

Senior Year

In the early season games, Rice won the Las Vegas Tournament MVP. During the 2014 year Rice improved his shooting 44% from three point line, improving from 29% the previous season. Ray had a major impact on the Braggin Rights game where he hit a step back game winning jumper as time expired. He showed his athleticism when he threw down a massive alley-oop dunk vs Purdue. Despite missing some games in the middle of the season due to injury, and having a lower average of minutes per game, he improved his field goal percentage by 4%, his three-point percentage by 14%, as previously noted, raised his free throw to 80%, and averaged more rebounds, steals, assists, and points in his senior campaign compared to his junior year. He ranked 5th in the big ten in scoring (unofficially since he missed games due to injury, and the Big Ten website accounts for players playing most of the games), and 9th in rebounding (also unofficially for the same reason). He won Co-Most Outstanding Player for the Illini tied with teammate Nnanna Egwu.

College statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010–11 Drake 31 30 30.1 40.2 29.5 69.6 4.8 1.6 1.4 0.8 13.8
2011–12 Drake 33 33 33.4 43.6 24.1 70.8 5.8 1.6 1.9 0.8 16.8
2012–13 Illinois Did not play due to NCAA transfer regulations
2013–14 Illinois 31 31 32.7 41.9 31.2 71.7 6.1 1.6 1.6 0.4 15.7

Updated: March 11, 2014

Personal

Rice has been quoted as saying he idolized former Fighting Illini basketball stars Dee Brown, Deron Williams, Luther Head, and Corey Bradford while growing up in Champaign.

While in high school, Rice was a dual-sport athlete who backed up his cousin Mikel Leshoure as running back for the Centennial Chargers. Rice was nearly dismissed from the team due to character issues. Leshoure went on to play football for the Fighting Illini and then was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Boys Basketball Tournament Scores Since 1990". Illinois High School Association. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  2. ^ "CENTENNIAL HIGH SCHOOL STANDOUT NAMED GATORADE® ILLINOIS BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR" (PDF). Gatorade Player of the Year. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  3. ^ "Meet the All-State team". News Gazette. April 4, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  4. ^ "Fighting Illini Basketball Bio: Rayvonte Rice".
  5. ^ "Tate: Rayvonte Rice's future is basketball". News-Gazette. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  6. ^ "Boys basketball: Waukegan senior, Illinois recruit Jereme Richmond wins Illinois Mr. Basketball award". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  7. ^ "Meet the All-State team". News Gazette. April 4, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  8. ^ "Fighting Illini Basketball Bio: Rayvonte Rice".
  9. ^ Prince, Kendrick (2015-01-05). "Rice is cooking, so enjoy it while you can". QC Times. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
  10. ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/rayvonte-rice-1.html
  11. ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/rayvonte-rice-1.html
  12. ^ Klee, Paul (April 25, 2012). "IKlee: Rayvonte Rice commits to Illinois". News Gazette. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  13. ^ Ryan, Shannon (October 9, 2013). "Rice ready to step in for Illini". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  14. ^ Jackson, Marcus (February 1, 2013). "Rayvonte Rice: Working hard". News-Gazette. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  15. ^ Gould, Herb (December 29, 2013). "Illinois basketball's Rayvonte Rice in good shape on, off court". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  16. ^ "Big Ten Men's Basketball Statistics - 2013-14". ESPN. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  17. ^ "Fighting Illini Basketball Bio: Rayvonte Rice".
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