Tennessee basketball transfer portal target Rodney Rice is visiting Southern Cal on Wednesday, 24/7 High School Hoops’ Sam Kayser first reported on Monday.
Rice scheduled the visit just a day after leaving a weekend visit at Tennessee. On Sunday, the shooting guard told RTI that he doesn’t plan on taking any more visits but thinks change quickly in the transfer portal and Rice will now go see USC. The Maryland transfer also visited Villanova late last week and is also considering Auburn and Gonzaga.
The 6-foot-4 shooting guard averaged 13.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in his redshirt sophomore season at Maryland. Rice made 80 three-pointers last season while shooting at a 37% clip from beyond the arc.
Over the final 20 games of Maryland’s season, Rice averaged 15.5 points per game while helping lead the Terrapins to the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2016. He averaged 14.8 points in Big 10 regular season games.
More From RTI: Maryland Transfer Rodney Rice Recaps Weekend Visit With Tennessee Basketball
Rice was teammates with Tennessee transfer point guard commit last season at Maryland where the pair teamed up to form one of the Big 10’s best backcourts. The duo combined to average 31.1 points per game in 20 conference games last season while shooting 39% from three-point range.
Continuing to play with Gillespie and being apart of a winning program was a major part of Tennessee’s recruiting pitch to Rice.
“They want me in the backcourt with Ja’Kobi,” Rice told RTI following his visit. “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.”
The Clinton, Maryland native ranks as one of the top players available in the transfer portal with 247sports ranking him as a four-star and the No. 22 player in the portal, On3 ranking him as a four-star and the No. 31 player in the portal and EvanMiya ranking him as a four-star and the No. 78 player available in the portal.
Tennessee currently has four scholarships to work with as they fill out their roster for the 2025-26 season. The Vols have landed two players in the transfer portal to this point— Gillespie and Vanderbilt power forward Jaylen Carer.
