While a visit to Lincoln by Eli Rice on July 31 was rather under the radar, it’s a safe bet that his commitment to the Nebraska basketball program is generating some buzz today. That’s because Rice is just the second commitment for Fred Hoiberg‘s 2023 class.
Rice, a shooting guard that compliments the prior commitment of point guard Chase Clemmons quite nicely, is rated as a 3-star prospect by On3 Sports. However, like his trip to see the Nebraska basketball program late last month, the 2-guard is a still a bit of a secret to some of the other national recruiting organizations so it will be interesting to see if his ratings improve now that he’s bound to get a bit more attention.
Despite not being recognized as a “blue-chipper” at the moment, the Cornhuskers did manage to steal Rice away from at least one other big-name program in Georgetown. The guard also had offers from St. Bonaventure, Murray State, VCU, and Rhode Island, amongst others.
The newest Nebraska baseball commit looks like he could provide quite a bit of size from his shooting guard position, assuming he stays there once he officially suits up for the Huskers. As the Omaha World-Herald pointed out, Rice has shot up seven inches in the last three years and now stands six feet, seven inches tall.
110% COMMITTED🌽 #AGTG @HuskerHoops pic.twitter.com/wtQawNPFJ8
— eli (@iamelirice) August 10, 2022
His offensive skills and length allowed him to put together a very impressive Junior season, scoring 17.2 points while hauling down 7.1 rebounds and dishing out 2.3 assists. He also recorded an eye-popping 1.1 blocks per game while leading his squad to a 33-0 start last season before falling in the Tennessee Class 4A quarterfinals.
His decision to commit to the Cornhuskers has apparently raised some eyebrows with people back home. This coming season, he’ll be taking his talents to IMG Academy (another reason why he’ll likely get more attention this fall) and some believed he should have waited a bit longer to pull the trigger.
However, Rice told the World-Herald that he felt like he didn’t need to wait, because he had such a great connection with Hoiberg and especially Emmanuel Tommy. It turns out that Tommy is working quickly as he was hired as director of player development just about a month ago.
It should be noted that while Rice said that his relationship with Tommy, who he has known for a while now, as well as the facilities at NU impressed him, it appears that one of the biggest factors was Hoiberg’s “open-floor, NBA style” of offense.
The hope is that in the coming years, that NBA-style offense will start generating wins for the Nebraska basketball program. Hopefully, Eli Rice can be one of those that makes that happen.