Tennessee basketball hosted Maryland guard Rodney Rice, its top remaining transfer portal target, on a visit over the weekend.
The visit took place around Tennessee football’s Orange & White game and the shooting guard took in the spring game at Neyland Stadium.
“We got to see the football game. Hung out with the guys some. Yeah, my experience was fun,” Rice told RTI of his visit.
Rice is one of the top shooting guard available in the transfer portal after averaging 13.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in his redshirt sophomore season at Maryland. The 6-foot-4 guard made 80 three-pointers last season while making a strong 37% of his attempts from deep on Maryland’s way to the Sweet 16.
“They want me in the backcourt with Ja’Kobi,” Rice said. “We got experience playing together. We’re going to have a good team, a winning team. They’re trying to make a Final Four push.
“That’s important to me. I want to win. I want to get past where we (Maryland) were this year (Sweet 16). So winning is important.”
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Gillepsie, who is Rice’s roommate at Maryland, joined the shooting guard on his visit despite already signing and has been recruiting Rice hard to join him in Knoxville. The desire for Rice to keep playing with Gillespie is one of the things they Vols most have going for them in the recruitment.
“It’s definitely fun playing with Ja’Kobi,” Rice said. “We got good chemistry. That’s my guy so I like playing with him.”
Rice took a visit to Villanova, where his Maryland coach Kevin Willard is now head coach, late last week before arriving at Tennessee on Saturday morning. The Clinton, Maryland native told RTI that he doesn’t plan on taking any more visits though he does have a few more Zoom calls lined up. Auburn and Southern Cal are also involved in Rice’s recruitment.
Should Tennessee fans take it as a good sign that Rice isn’t taking any more visits after leaving Knoxville?
“I don’t know. You can take it how you want,” Rice said.
Tennessee basketball currently holds two transfer portal commits in Gillespie and Vanderbilt forward Jaylen Carey. The Vols have four scholarships to work with as they fill out their roster for the 2025-26 season.
