Former WSU basketball player Myles Rice isn’t afraid of a fight. His battle with cancer proved it.
Sept. 12, 2022, was supposed to be a joyous day for Myles Rice. He had been looking forward to speaking with his mother on her birthday, though they were putting an official celebration on hold while the native of South Carolina was on the opposite side of the country preparing for his redshirt freshman season at Washington State.
Except that same day, Rice received notice confirming his diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer affecting the body’s lymphatic system, which helps fight infection. Months of chemotherapy followed, derailing his season and casting serious doubt about whether he would play basketball again.
During the darkest moments, Rice recalls, he summoned the mental and physical fortitude to push forward thanks to inspiration from family members who had overcome cancer or battled valiantly before succumbing. The journey, though frequently draining, radically altered his perspective and opened a pathway to a more meaningful purpose than simply reaching the NBA.
It is why Rice, now a point guard at Maryland entering his first season with the team, continues advocating to raise awareness more than two years after doctors delivered the emotional news that he was in remission. Even in the heat of preseason practice, during which he nursed a lower left leg ailment that leaves his status uncertain for Monday night’s season opener against Coppin State in Baltimore, the redshirt junior made it a priority to step away and speak at an event in D.C. for cancer research.
“A kid growing up wanting to play basketball, and he wanted to change his life in the beginning by making it to the NBA, but as he got older, it was more so about how can he impact the people around him,” Rice said, providing a synopsis of his remarks. “Once he got diagnosed, it really came to light that every moment, every little thing, you can’t take for granted, and you have to find a way that you can continue to impact people when you may not even be feeling like you’re 100 percent yourself.”
Rice encountered many such periods during treatment. The first rounds of chemo left him more exhausted than he had ever felt. Getting out of bed, brushing his teeth and changing his clothes became laborious. It took roughly a month before he could begin modest physical activity.
Even at that point, doctors instructed Rice to refrain from dribbling or shooting a basketball. He did so anyway, determined to reclaim a foothold in the sport he had been playing as long as he can remember. His faith and unwavering positivity from his parents, Joel and Tamara, kept him uplifted through his final treatment on March 9, 2023.
In a triumphant ritual for survivors, Rice rang the bell on his way out of Pullman Regional Hospital for the last time, anticipating a reunion with his Washington State teammates, who were playing in the Pac-12 tournament that night. He never boarded the plane to Las Vegas; the Cougars lost to Oregon.
But Rice made it back with a flourish the next season, moving into the starting lineup for a team expected to finish 10th in the conference. The Cougars not only defied those predictions but also secured the school’s first NCAA tournament berth since 2008. Rice averaged 14.8 points, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals and was named Pac-12 freshman of the year.
“I had heard about Myles’s story before I even came here,” said Maryland forward Elijah Saunders, a Virginia transfer who began his college career at San Diego State. “He’s just a confident person, and he tries to breed confidence in others. You can tell he’s very mature.”
The lure of higher-level competition amid the Pac-12’s dissolution and potential financial benefits from a name, image and likeness deal elsewhere led Rice to the transfer portal. Maryland Coach Buzz Williams, who was then at Texas A&M, first communicated with Rice at that time, although the dialogue, according to both, did not include much about basketball. Williams was so moved by Rice’s courage that the discussion instead turned to the details of what it took to conquer cancer.
“I did an awful job recruiting him because I spent the entire conversation talking about his life story,” Williams said. “I was really caught off guard by his explanation, the things that he learned, how it changed his heart, how it changed his life.”
Rice wound up at Indiana, where he averaged 10.1 points and 2.8 assists last season. He scored 16 points during a 79-78 loss to Maryland in the teams’ only meeting.
When Rice entered the transfer portal again after Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson stepped down, among his visits was one with his parents in late March to College Station, Texas. During the family’s second day on campus at Texas A&M, they spent time at Williams’s home. There, Williams revealed he was considering taking the Maryland job, showing Rice a memorandum of understanding that he had yet to sign.
Williams said he did not specifically recruit Rice to come to Maryland, which had a vacancy to fill after coach Kevin Willard departed for Villanova. The exchange was more for transparency’s sake so that Rice knew Williams’s future might not be at Texas A&M.
Later that day, Williams traveled to College Park to meet with Maryland President Darryll J. Pines and interim athletic director Colleen Sorem. Pines and Sorem introduced Williams as Maryland’s coach at a news conference April 2. One month later, Williams announced Rice had signed with Maryland in the early stages of its roster overhaul.
“He ended up making the decision to come here before he ever visited,” Williams said. “A lot of that is I think he probably knew more about Maryland than I did from being in the league. His life story is incredible. (He is) built 1,000 percent on the right things, and we’re going to need him.”