Rayvonte Rice (born July 14, 1992) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Taichung Suns The Taichung Suns ( zh, 臺中太陽) are a Taiwanese professional basketball team based in Taichung City, Taiwan. They compete in the T1 League since the 2021–22 season, and play their home game at the National Taiwan University of Sport Gymna ...

of the

T1 League The T1 League is a Taiwanese men's professional basketball league founded in 2021. It is the third professional basketball league in Taiwan after the Chinese Basketball Alliance (CBA) and the P. League+ (PLG). In the 2022–23 season, the T ...

. He is a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

from

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

who completed his college career at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. He previously played at

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. Hi ...

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

from 2010–2012 and transferred after his sophomore season.

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. 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 The Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois. Most of the award winners have gone on to play at the highest levels of college basketball, and many have ...

behind

Jereme Richmond Jereme Richmond (born March 13, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Obras Sanitarias of the Liga Nacional de Básquet. Richmond was considered a top 25 recruit and #4 at his position in the 2010 class. He played college basket ...

. 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 Coach

John Groce John Gordon Groce (; born September 7, 1971) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Akron Zips men's basketball team. Prior to coaching for Akron, he was the head coach at Illinois and Ohio. Coaching career P ...

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 The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

News-Gazette ''The News-Gazette'' may refer to: * ''The News-Gazette'' (Champaign–Urbana), a daily newspaper serving the Champaign–Urbana Metropolitan Area and Danville, Illinois * ''The News-Gazette'' (Winchester, Indiana), a daily newspaper based in Wi ...

, 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 The Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, also known as Champaign–Urbana and Urbana–Champaign as well as Chambana (colloquially), is a metropolitan area in east-central Illinois. As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the ...

since 1984. Rice left Centennial High School as the all-time leading scorer in both school history and in Champaign-Urbana high school prep history with 1,810 career points.

College career

Freshman

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. For his contributions to his team, Rice was voted to the 2011

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

All-Freshman Team & the All-Newcomers Team.

Sophomore

Rice improved his second year at Drake averaging 16.8 ppg and shooting about 44% from the field. Rice was named to the 2012 Second-Team Missouri Valley Conference following the season. After announcing his decision to transfer from Drake, Rice narrowed down his options between

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, Xavier,

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, and Marquette. Rice said of his decision to sign with Illinois, that

had previously recruited him while Groce was still coach at

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

which contributed to his commitment. Due to

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

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 The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, ...

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%.

Junior

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.

Senior

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 Nnanna Egwu (born October 22, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for Earth Friends Tokyo Z of the Japanese B.League. He played college basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini. Egwu holds the career record for blocks at Illin ...

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

, 31 , , 30 , , 30.1 , , 40.2 , , 29.5 , , 69.6 , , 4.8 , , 1.6 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 13.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 33.4 , , 43.6 , , 24.1 , , 70.8 , , 5.8 , , 1.6 , , 1.9 , , 0.8 , , 16.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11", Did not play due to NCAA transfer regulations , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 32.7 , , 43.0 , , 29.5 , , 73.1 , , 6.0 , , 1.5 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 15.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 19 , , 30.0 , , 47.1 , , 43.6 , , 80.7 , , 6.5 , , 1.8 , , 1.8 , , 0.3 , , 16.5 Updated: January 12, 2018

Professional career

Rice signed his first professional contract with Tezenis Verona of the Italian

Serie A2 Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian league pyramid, below the first division LBA and above the third division Serie B, with pro ...

on July 29, 2015. Rice spent the 2017-18 season with

Basket Ravenna Piero Manetti Basket Ravenna Piero Manetti, also known as Orasì Ravenna (after its title sponsor), is a Serie A2 Basket Italian basketball team based in Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna. Its colors are red and yellow and they are commonly referred as Leoni Bizantini ...

in Italy. He averaged 18.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in 30 games. On September 25, 2018, he signed with

Petrochimi Bandar Imam BC Petrochimi Bandar Imam Basketball Club ( fa, تیم بسكتبال پتروشیمی بندر امام, ''Tim-e Beskâtbal-e Petrushimi-ye Bendâr Eman''), also known as shortly Petrochimi, is an Iranian professional basketball club based in Mahshah ...

of the

Iranian Basketball Super League The Iranian Basketball Super League (IBSL) is a professional men's basketball league in Iran. It was founded in 1998. The current champions is Shahrdari Gorgan. The league follows the promotion and relegation system in which the worst two teams ...

. In July 2019, Rice played with the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

during the

2019 NBA Summer League The 2019 NBA Summer League was held at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It began on July 5 and ended on July 15. All 30 teams and two national teams, China and Croat ...

. On September 4, 2019, Rice signed with

Avtodor Saratov BC Avtodor (russian: БК «Автодор» Саратов), commonly known as simply Avtodor and internationally as Avtodor Saratov, is a Russian professional basketball club based in Saratov. It plays in the FIBA Europe Cup and in the VTB Unit ...

of the

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus an ...

. On December 25, 2019, Rice parted ways with Saratov to join Hapoel Eilat of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

for the rest of the season. He signed with

Kyoto Hannaryz The Kyoto Hannaryz (京都ハンナリーズ ''Kyōto Hannarīzu'') are a Japanese basketball team playing in Kyoto Prefecture; they are part of the Western Conference of the B.League. The Hannaryz are coached by Roy Rana. Coaches * David Benoi ...

of the Japanese

B.League The B.League is a professional men's basketball league that began in Japan in September 2016. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that w ...

on July 15, 2020. After training with

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

for a period of time, Rice eventually signed with

Ionikos Nikaias Ionikos Nikaias (full name Athlitikos Omilos Ionikos Nikaias, A.O. Ionikos Nikaias / el, Α.Ο. Ιωνικός Νικαίας) is a Greek multi-sports club that is based in Nikaia, Piraeus. It was founded in 1965, and it has teams in football, b ...

of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

, on December 10, 2021. On January 8, 2022, Rice mutually parted ways with the Greek club in order to pursue a

G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

contract. In only 2 games, he averaged 12.5 points and 3 rebounds, playing 21 minutes per contest.

Salt Lake City Stars (2022)

On January 8, 2022, Rice was acquired via waivers by the

Salt Lake City Stars The Salt Lake City Stars are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are affiliated with the Utah Jazz. As of the 2022-23 season, the Stars play in the Maverik Center in West Valley City, U ...

Taichung Suns (2023–present)

On February 10, 2023, Rice signed with the

of the

Personal life

Rice has been quoted as saying he idolized former Fighting Illini basketball stars Dee Brown,

Deron Williams Deron Michael Williams ( ; born June 26, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini before being drafted third overall in the 2005 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz. A thre ...

Luther Head Luther Dale Head (born November 26, 1982) is a former American professional basketball player. High school Head attended Chicago's Manley Academy where he averaged over 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds per game as a junior. Those n ...

, and

Corey Bradford Corey Lamon Bradford (born December 8, 1975) is a former American football wide receiver. He played for the Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, and Detroit Lions.

while growing up in Champaign. While in high school, Rice was a dual-sport athlete who backed up his cousin

Mikel Leshoure Mikel Leshoure (born March 30, 1990) is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at Illinois. Early years Leshoure attended Centennial High ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the Centennial Chargers. Leshoure went on to play football for the

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

and then was drafted in the 2nd round of the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

by the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

References

External links