Hoosiers Now

Myles Rice Overcame Cancer Before Becoming Indiana’s Point Guard

Myles Rice enters his fourth year of college in 2024-25, but he’s only been able to play one season – a first-team All-Pac-12 campaign at Washington State – due to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Now at Indiana, Rice is a big reason the Hoosiers are expected to have a bounce-back season.

Jack Ankony

Myles Rice transferred to Indiana after being named first-team All-Pac-12 as a freshman at Washington State last season.
Myles Rice transferred to Indiana after being named first-team All-Pac-12 as a freshman at Washington State last season. / Indiana Athletics
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Myles Rice is far from the average sophomore.

Despite being in his fourth year of college in 2024-25 –  same as Indiana senior Luke Goode – he can still play three more seasons of college basketball. 

That unique distinction plays into the biggest challenge he’s faced. In September 2022, Rice was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a form of cancer that affects the body's germ-fighting and disease-fighting immune system. That caused him to miss the entire 2022-23 season. 

Rice’s talent is rare, too. He was the only player in the last three seasons to earn first-team All-Pac-12 honors in their freshman-eligible season. Now that he’s a Hoosier, Rice is thankful to simply be on the court, because there was a time he wondered if his basketball career was over.

Rice is a major reason why coach Mike Woodson is pushing the Hoosiers to play fast this season and why Indiana is seen as a preseason top-15 team despite missing the NCAA Tournament last season.

“His speed, it changes the game for us, along with Kanaan [Carlyle], and the fact that he can score the ball,” Woodson said of Rice. “His biggest challenge right now is just really being a solid point guard and making sure he understands there are other players around him that can also help, too.”

Rice originally committed to Washington State as a three-star recruit ranked No. 227 in the nation, per the 247Sports Composite, out of Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone, Ga. He chose to redshirt the 2021-22 season, and just before the 2022-23 season began, he received life-changing news. Rice was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on Sept. 12, 2022, his mother’s birthday.

“Sometimes we never understand why, but we must trust God’s plan,” Rice wrote in a public announcement. “... I will beat this heinous disease and will use my success to be a positive inspiration and uplifting testimony for others.”

Rice recalls the first two chemotherapy treatments being especially grueling. 

“I was sleeping a lot, didn’t have a lot of energy to do simple things or just your every day-to-day things,” Rice said at Indiana basketball media day on Sept. 18. 

Rice said the recovery process taught him how to persevere through difficult times, and he credits his mom and dad for being his rocks. But there were still times when questions surfaced. Would he be OK? Would he play basketball again? 

“Those thoughts kind of creep into your mind a little bit, but you can’t let them sit there and just be there for a long period of time.” Rice said. “It’s normal for people to think like that. But like I said, just learning to persevere and get through it, that’s the thing for me that I learned the most about myself.”

Roughly past the one-month mark of chemotherapy, Rice said, he was able to work out, though he wasn’t supposed to. Being able to pick up a basketball and shoot around in that moment – although he hadn’t fully overcome cancer yet – gave Rice a feeling that, “I knew I would be fine.”

Throughout the following months, Rice focused on his mindset and getting back on the court. His parents constantly stressed positivity, and Rice felt his relationship with God helped him carry a positive outlook on life despite his situation.

“That’s just who I was as a kid, and that’s just who I am today. I’m always preaching positivity,” Rice said. “Always have a smile on my face, and that’s just the thing I want people to remember about me, that I’m always going to be a positive person.”

Rice received his final chemotherapy treatment on March 9, 2023, and the Pac-12 Network captured footage of him ringing the bell at the hospital to signify the end of his treatment.

Cancer caused Rice to miss the full 2022-23 season and taught him perseverance. As he moves forward in his career, those lessons give him perspective in hard times.

“Anything that comes my way now won’t really contest to that at all,” Rice said.

Rice returned to game action with Washington State at the beginning of the 2023-24 season, and it didn’t take long for him to adjust. Rice earned a spot in the starting lineup, scored 13 points in first college game against Idaho and capped off November with a 28-point performance against Eastern Washington.

Washington State entered the season with low expectations, picked to finish 10th in the preseason Pac-12 poll. Rice and the Cougars got off to an 0-2 start in conference play, but they found their stride when the calendar turned.

From Jan. 10 to Feb. 22, Washington State went 11-1 in Pac-12 play, including two wins over a top-10 Arizona team and wins over NCAA Tournament teams Colorado and Oregon. Rice totaled season-highs with 35 points and eight assists in a Jan. 18 win at Stanford. His third-highest scoring game was a 25-point effort to defeat Cal, part of Washington State’s hot streak.

That run vaulted Washington State from preseason no-names to a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars defeated No. 10 seed Drake 66-61 in the Round of 64 before falling to No. 2 seed Iowa State 67-56 in the Round of 32.

As Washington State’s point guard, Rice finished the season averaging 14.8 points, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He shot 43.9% from the field and 81.1% from the free throw line, and he went through significant ups and downs from 3-point range. 

Myles Rice
Washington State Cougars guard Myles Rice (2) brings the ball up against Iowa State in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

At his best, Rice made 6 of 8 3-point attempts against Eastern Illinois, and he went 5 for 10 from 3-point range at Stanford. Through his first 26 games, he shot 33% from beyond the arc on 103 attempts. But Rice finished the season going 2 for 28 on 3-point attempts in his final nine games, dropping his season-long mark to 27.5%.

Despite his shooting struggles to end the season, Rice still earned Pac-12 freshman of the year honors and a spot on the first-team All-Pac-12. He helped Washington State reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008.

“I was just honestly proud that I was able to play basketball, truthfully,” Rice said. 

Following the season, conference realignment and the coaching carousel hit Washington State hard. UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon joined the Big Ten. Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State headed to the Big 12, leaving the Pac-12 with just four teams and little hope for the future. 

Coach Kyle Smith left Washington State to take the Stanford job, which was moving to the ACC along with Cal. Rice and 10 of his Washington State teammates hit the transfer portal.

When evaluating his options, authenticity around Indiana’s program stood out. That’s something Rice looks for on and off the basketball court, and he found it in Bloomington.

“Woody, the coaching staff, the players, they were all very authentic since day one,” Rice said. “I thought to myself, if that was how it was when I first got out here, I could only imagine the more time we spend together and the bond we can build moving each day forward. So that’s why I chose it.”

Guard play was part of Indiana’s downfall last season. The Hoosiers finished 19-14, and Woodson prioritized improving his backcourt for the 2024-25 season. Rice was ranked ninth among transfer point guards nationwide, per On3, and Carlyle was ranked No. 1 among combo guards. Woodson said he and Carlyle give Indiana a “totally different look” because of their speed and quickness. 

“I’ve learned in this short period of time that I’ve been in college, you win with good guard play,” Woodson said. “It’s great to have big guys that can play and do the things we’ve had over the last three with the bigs that we’ve coached, but you win with perimeter and guard play – good guard play.”

"Myles is a savvy, downhill guard that really succeeds in pick-and-roll situations,” Woodson said. “He is a three-level scorer that makes the right play consistently, whether that is getting to the rim or finding the open man. He is going to be a huge help for our ballclub, and we are very excited to welcome him and his family to Bloomington."

Woodson is challenging Rice to become a complete point guard and said getting others involved can be a learning process for young players. Rice believes that a point guard can have every skill in the book, but that falls apart if he can’t lead and motivate the team. 

Rice’s leadership qualities and confidence were built at a young age. 

“As a kid growing up, I was an ambassador for the high school. I did student council. I did a couple plays growing up. So just being able to get familiar with talking in front of a large audience and talking in front of people,” Rice said. “… I did a lot of things that require you to be well-spoken and understanding people and character traits, and so I attest that to my mom. She always put me in positions to be more than just a basketball player.

“I think that just rose to what I am now. I’m a very outgoing person, just always bubbly, have a smile on my face, just trying to make sure that everybody feels good. I definitely think that does help me handle the attention that I get.”

Rice has 12 new teammates this season, and he has to quickly learn their tendencies and build chemistry before the season starts. That starts with practice and talking with his teammates about small details such as where they like to be passed the ball and how they act in certain situations. He takes mental note of that every day and is always “people-watching.”

“Everybody’s going to have a different role, but how can you be able to manage all those roles and get them to understand it?” Rice said. “So just being an extension of the coach I truthfully think is the best thing you can be.”

Rice said the Hoosiers have been focusing on conditioning to make getting easy buckets in transition a key to their success. He considers speed one of his best attributes, but he doesn’t want to hang his hat on one quality. Rice also believes his IQ, defense, leadership and experience through three years of college stand out.

In addition to its fastbreak play, Rice thinks Indiana’s strengths will be 3-point shooting and its collectiveness and cohesion, built through offseason team-bonding experiences like fishing, mini golf and hours in the gym. Up and down the roster, he doesn’t see many weaknesses.

“Obviously having coach Woody, he has the experience, man. He’s done this before at the highest of high level, so having him in our corner is not too bad,” Rice said. “… I think us having the complete game as a team and as individuals, I think sky’s the limit for us.”

Rice’s message to fans is to expect a team that’s going to play hard every night and not give opponents anything easy. That motivation stems from overcoming significant challenges in his life, and he’s ready to carry over last season’s success at a new school.

“Everything that came my way didn’t come from individual [performance], it came from team success and us winning,” Rice said. “That’s the same thing that we’re gonna have [at Indiana]. We’re gonna have a lot of wins. We’re gonna do everything the right way as a team and as a collective unit.”

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Jack Ankony
JACK ANKONY

Jack Ankony is a Sports Illustrated/FanNation writer for HoosiersNow.com. He graduated from Indiana University's Media School with a degree in journalism. Follow on Twitter @ankony_jack.

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