Penn State Basketball Transfer to Miss 2024-25 Season With Injury

Eli Rice, who joined the Nittany Lions from Nebraska, will not play the remainder of this season, coach Mike Rhoades confirms.

Penn State basketball coach Mike Rhoades talks to the team during a timeout in the first half in a game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at CFG Bank Arena. / Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Penn State men's basketball player Eli Rice, who transferred from Nebraska this year, will miss the Nittany Lions' 2024-25 season, coach Mike Rhoades announced Friday. Rice is out with an undisclosed injury.

Rice, a 6-8 sophomore guard, played in one game for the Nittany Lions this season, getting two rebounds in 7 minutes of action against Saint Francis. He transferred to Penn State after an injury cut short his promising freshman season with the Cornhuskers. Rice played in 17 games at Nebraska, averaving 4.2 points and 1.6 rebounds. He scored a career-high 16 points against Florida A&M. Rice missed the last 13 games of the season with an ankle injury.

"My No. 1 priority with Eli is his health and his wellness and safety," Rhoades said on a Zoom call with reporters Friday. "He’s an integeral part of us building this program and building it the right way, and we’re going to make sure he gets to 100 [percent] and he’s going to be an important part moving forward here, so I want to get him healthy."

Rice transferred to Penn State in April, becoming the third of four players to join Penn State's roster from the NCAA Transfer Portal. Rice, from Gallatin, Tenn., played one season with IMG Academy's post-graduate team in 2023 before signing with Nebraska. He averaged 19 points and 7 rebounds for an IMG team that went 24-3. The 247Sports Composite graded Rice as a 3-star prospect in the transfer portal. Rice entered the portal in late March.

"As a coach and a parent, it breaks your heart to see a kid work so hard to try to get back with his teammates and it doesn’t just happen," Rhoades said. "He’s bummed out, his family is bummed out, we’re bummed out, his teamamtes are bummed out. ... When you're dealing with injuries and can't figure them out, unfortunately stuff like this happens. But we're going to be here for him. He's an awesome kid from a great family, and the kid loves basketball and he's a really hard worker. The emotion will settle here, and it's all about getting better and getting him healthy so he can get back on the court and help Penn State win basketball games."

Penn State looks to rebound from first loss

The Nittany Lions return to action Sunday against Buffalo at the Bryce Jordan Center before opening Big Ten play Dec. 5 against Purdue. Penn State (6-1) ended its best start to a season in 25 years with a 75-67 loss to Clemson in the final of the Sunshine Slam in Florida. Penn State shot season-lows from the field and 3-point range and committed 17 turnovers against Clemson, which lost to Alabama in the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA basketball tournament.

"We were all pissed, we were all mad and upset and disappointed that we didn't play well enough to play a really good team, a team that has veterans and experience," Rhoades said. "... We just had spurts in the game where we didn't play our style of basketball. We just didn't string together enough possessions together against a good team to beat them. We were tied [in the second half] and we're playing like we're down 10. We just didn't have enough pace and mojo down the stretch."

Penn State hosts Buffalo at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center. Big Ten Network will televise.

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