Rayvonte Rice – The Basics

Year:  Junior. Rice will not play for Illinois until next season. After he sits out for a year, he will have 2 more years of eligibility
Previous School: Drake
Ht/Wt: 6-4/240
Jersey #: 24

Next on our list of new guys on the basketball team is Rayvonte Rice, who is transferring to Illinois after spending two years at Drake. You won’t actually see him on the court this season, as he has to sit out due to transfer rules. Sam McLaurin, on the other hand, does not have to wait because he graduated from Coastal Carolina, and is heading to Illinois as a grad student.

Rice will be able to play for the Illini starting next season, and then the 6-foot-4, 240-pound guard will then have two years of eligibility with Illinois.

A native of Champaign, Rice was the first official recruit that John Groce brought into the program. He averaged 16.5 points and 5.7 rebounds last season for Drake, and overall in his career there totaled 983 points, 339 rebounds, 103 assists and 105 steals. He played in 64 career games at Drake, and started 62 times. Rice also set the Drake freshman scoring record with 428 points (13.8 ppg)

Rice will be wearing jersey number 24 when he plays next season, and since that’s my favorite number I’m going to keep an eye on this guy. Also, we’re from the same hometown. He’ll be 21 July 14th  next year, so that means he’ll be of drinking age once he can officially play for the team.

What you may not know about Rice is that he is cousins with Illini football star Mikel Leshoure, who holds the Illini Football single-game (330 yards) and single-season (1,697 yards) rushing records and single-season rushing touchdowns (17) record. Leshoure is now a running back with the Detroit Lions.

Check out some Rayvonte Rice high school highlights below, because I couldn’t seem to find much from when he was at Drake. Still exciting nonetheless.

Malcolm Hill is no longer the sole Illini recruit for 2013, as Maverick Morgan announced to the world via Twitter (natch) that he has committed to joining the Fighting Illini in 2013.

Illini fans have been nervous about John Groce’s recruiting prowess, as recruits such as Michael Orris (2012) and Jalen James (2013) have been heading for the hills. Morgan is the first major player to commit to Groce out of high school, as Mike LaTulip will have walk on status and Rayvonte Rice and Sam McLaurin are transfers. This is also Groce’s first commit for 2013, and he has room for two more guys.

The 6-foot-10, 240-pound center is from Springboro, Ohio, and is ranked in the top 15 at his position for 2013. And, that’s pretty much all I know about him as of right now, aside from the fact that he has an awesome name. His final list was said to include Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Dayton, Xavier and Minnesota, but it was the staff at Illinois that sealed the deal for him.

Though the Illini need a center to fill the big shoes of Meyers Leonard, here’s hoping by the time Morgan arrives Ibby Djimde or Nnanna Egwu will be dominating in that position and can teach him a thing or two.

Next on the list, let’s get some point guards!

Yesterday, I reported that new Illinois assistant coach Isaac Chew is heading to Marquette, and then today I get to inform my fair readers that 2014 PG commit Jalen James has decomitted and will reopen his search. The HS junior point guard from La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Ind., is the second recruit to leave the Illini, as HS senior point guard Michael Orris jumped ship pretty quickly after Bruce Weber left the building.

If you’re not keeping score, that’s two point guards that have decided not to come to Illinois. John Groce is supposedly a guy that loves to play a lot of guards, and now he’s really only got Tracy Abrams to help him out. Abrams was the only shining light last year (aside from that Brandon Paul 43-point game that I still dream about), but he’s going to need some help.

The news also stings a bit since Chew just ditched us yesterday. However, today’s article from Paul Klee kind of makes it seem like the break up was a mutual decision. It implies that perhaps James wasn’t the best fit for the “system.” That’s fine, but we’ve got plenty of open schollies since Orris is out and Meyers Leonard is heading to the draft. James was a good recruit so now seems like a strange time to be picky. Does this really have nothing to do with Chew or anything else? Hmmmmmmmmm.

Marquette is in the mix to nab James, in addition to SMU (Jerrance Howard’s new stomping grounds) and Colorado. Also I just saw a tweet that DePaul is in the mix, but that doesn’t seem likely. The addition of Rayvonte Rice from Drake is nice, but the kid isn’t a point guard.

As of now, 6’5″ shooting guard Malcolm Hill is apparently still planning to head to Champaign. But as we know that can always change.

John Groce has nabbed his first Illini recruit! Drake shooting guard, and Champaign native, Rayvonte Rice announced today that he will transfer to Illinois. He had the option to transfer to Xavier as well, but he attended Champaign Centennial High School and decided to return to his roots.

There are actually three open scholarships for next season: Michael Orris bowed out of his scholly before setting foot on campus, Meyers Leonard is heading to the NBA, and Crandall Head transferred abruptly in the middle of the season. Groce filled one spot, and now has two to play with.

Rice, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound guard, will sit out next season, and then will have two years of eligibility with Illinois. He averaged 16.5 points and 5.7 rebounds last season for Drake.

Since Rice has some collegiate experience, he could be able to jump in immediately and take over the guard duties for Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson after they graduate at the end of next year. While he doesn’t necessarily have B1G experience, he will have a year of practice to get with the program. Seems like a good nab, and I live it when the local kids get to come home and play for the fans (ala another Centennial transfer – from Dayton – Trent Meacham).

Groce now has two more spots to fill before the season begins, and will most likely focus on another point guard position and center to fill the more immediate holes left by Leonard and Maniscalco.

D.J. Richardson had a game-high 17 points against Quincy; Photo by Cary Frye

Tonight’s exhibition game was a tad on the boring side, since the Illini had things in control from the start. Well, at least they did 10 minutes in when the BTN.com got their act together and actually streamed the Illini game instead of the Minnesota game. By the way, are there any Minnesota fans that care enough about basketball to watch an exhibition game?

But, I digress. Boring is pretty much what you want to see during exhibition time, because that means your team is doing its job and winning handily. Though in the end the Illini beat Quincy 73-45, missed free throws and sloppy plays indicate that the guys need to do a little work before facing Division I opponents.

For a good portion of the second half the court was littered with freshmen, while Joseph Bertrand served as the only upperclassman in sight. That’s when Quincy started to score, and also when Illinois stopped scoring. While in a normal game it will be rare to see just freshman on the court, it still might need to happen if there are injuries or some tired players.  It was nice to see what the freshman can do, but there were too many mistakes and not enough scoring!

Again, this is not representative of what a typical Illini game might look like this year, as Leonard played just 15 minutes and Maniscalco only played 11. Having those two in a little longer could’ve easily sent the final Illini score through the roof, considering Leonard had 10 points, 4 blocks and 4 rebounds in that span of time. He also demonstrated he’s got more than just dunks in his arsenal. Also, if there had been a few more made free throws, that’s another easy 10 points or so to add to the top as the Illini were 12-23.

DJ Richardson got his swagger back and had a game-high 17 points, 4 of which came from behind the arc. Brandon Paul was rather quiet with 6 points and 3 rebounds, but with the depth that the Illini have it was easy to just put Bertrand in instead. In fact, Bertrand earned a second half start in place of Paul, joining Tyler Griffey, Richardson, Leonard and Tracy Abrams. Overall, Bertrand had 5 rebounds, 8 points and 3 steals.

If you look at the stats, you’ll see Mike Shaw had an impressive team-high 9 rebounds, while Myke Henry – who made his exhibition debut- had 8. However, a lot of those rebounds came from a little game of volleyball under the basket when the shots didn’t fall. Regardless, 9 rebounds is still 9 rebounds and they could’ve just given up when the basket was missed. Tracy Abrams had another nice game tonight with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. And while the score rose slightly for the Hawks when it was just the freshmen in the game, the Illini still kept Quincy under 50. Keep in mind they’re a team that recently scored 84 points in a win against Drake and 64 in a loss against Illinois State. Coach Weber promised the defense would improve, and it seems to be happening.

In case you missed it, Weber’s nephew Austin Weber is a redshirt freshman on Quincy this year. He had a quiet game with 5 rebounds and 4 points.

Up next, the Illini will play a game that counts on Friday at 8pm against Loyola-Chicago. And, I will get to watch the game in person instead of trying to deal with the dang computer again. For those of you who aren’t quite as lucky, the game will be on the BTN.com again.

Can’t wait to see how they perform when it counts.

Yes, the headline is a wee bit cocky, and I’m not trying to say that Quincy won’t bring forth some hustle tonight, but in general exhibition games tend to be geared toward allowing the D1 do some experimenting before crushing the opponent. Unless you’re pre-season No. 16 Arizona, who lost an exhibition to Seattle Pacific.

Last week, the Illini had a sluggish start against Wayne State, but in the second half came alive and won by almost 30 points. Add to that the fact that this will be Quincy’s third game against a D1 opponent in three days, which means they’re going to be pooped.

The Hawks actually beat Drake 84-74 on Saturday, but last night they lost to Illinois State 102-63. Clearly with a score like that they were already a little tired last night, so I can only imagine how they’ll feel rolling up into Assembly Hall tonight.

No matter. Exhibition games are not really about beating the opponent, they’re about showing Coach Weber what you can do on the court and earning a coveted starting spot. It’s also a great way to get some game-time experience before the real season begins.

Located in Quincy, Ill., the Hawks are a part of the DII Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Tonight, expect to see Sam Maniscalco get some minutes in the game, and Joseph Bertrand should look more alive as the pain from his hip pointer subsides. Myke Henry might also get involved.

The game will air on the BTN.com tonight at 7:30. Then, the first real game of the season will take place on Friday against Loyola-Chicago at 8pm on the BTN.com.

The Fighting Illini basketball team will get a head start on the 2011-12 season by participating in a foreign tour trip to Italy in August. The trip runs from Aug. 10-20 and includes a number of exciting stops along the way.

Coach Weber has always been a big proponent of sending kids overseas, but the past few years it has usually been one or two guys heading out of the country to learn and grow. Last year Brandon Paul and Tyler Griffey went on a foreign excursion, which seemed to benefit Paul a little bit more in the improvement realm. However, Griffey didn’t get a lot of chances to play last season. Really there is no way to pinpoint Paul’s improvement on that specific trip, but I’m sure it helped. And from Griffey’s blog I learned that Paul met Drake in an airport, so it wasn’t a total waste!

Turns out NCAA regulations allow teams to make foreign trips once every four years, which explains why this hasn’t happened in a while. The Illini will play four or five games against Italian professional club teams, and the team will hold 10 on-campus practice sessions prior to the trip.

I think packing up the team and heading to Italy is a great move, especially with so many newbies coming aboard.

“We are excited about taking our team to Italy in August,” Weber said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to come together as a team and learn more about each other. With six new players joining the roster, we feel it’s extremely important for us to take advantage of this trip heading into next season.”

If you are an Illini fan that has always dreamed of taking a trip to Italy for basketball, here is your chance! Basketball Travelers has arranged a supporters’ tour for fans interested in taking a trip to Europe. A limited amount of spots are available, so act fast. The prices are predictably steep at $6,600 single/$10,200 double (flights included) or $5,100 single/$7,200 double (without flights). While this Illini fan would love nothing more than a trip to Italy this summer, I’m thinking it might not be in the budget. I’d also like to save my pennies to watch the Illini in the Cancun Cancun in November. If Italy is in your budget, visit www.basketballtravelers.com or contact Becky Johnson by phone at 425-776-2775 or by email at becky@basketballtravelers.com.

The itinerary includes visits to Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Como and Milan.

Regardless of whether or not you will be able to join the team and view the Italian countryside in the process, I think this is a great move for the team. They will have time to bond, and what better way for freshmen to get thrown into the mix than by playing a professional Italian team? This is a great move by Weber, and it should have nothing but positive results.