Rodney Rice’s career night highlights impressive Terps’ win against Mount St. Mary’s

Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics

The Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers men’s basketball team had 26 points at halftime of their Friday night matchup with the Maryland Terrapins at XFINITY Center. So did Rodney Rice.

The Terps’ sophomore guard had the best game of his career, finishing with 28 points on 10-14 shooting in 20 minutes off the bench. Maryland moved to 2-0 on the season, winning 86-52.

With all eyes on freshman center Derik Queen after his 22-point, 20-rebound performance in the opener versus Manhattan, Rice reminded Terp fans that Queen is not the only new face in College Park capable of erupting offensively.

“Knocking the rust off and just staying with it – it felt good to be out there,” Rice said. “The ball found me a lot. I felt in-rhythm when I got it.”

Rice missed all of the 2023-24 season after an injury-riddled freshman campaign with Virginia Tech the year before. In two games at Maryland, Rice is averaging 20 points per game on 61% shooting.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie was solid again, making three of four from beyond the arc en route to 13. As a team, the Terrapins shot 9-for-23 from range, 12 points better than their 5-for-23 performance against Manhattan.

Maryland’s defense was also a bright spot, turning 25 forced turnovers into 27 points.

“Everyone’s defensive energy has been really good to start the season,” head coach Kevin Willard said. “I thought Tafara and Jordan came in with energy. Ja’Kobi takes a break, you bring Jay [Young] in so you don’t really get a break.”

The Terps’ slow offensive start did not deter what turned out to be a dominant first half. Fifth-year guard Selton Miguel had the team’s first points, a layup more than three minutes into the game after four straight misses. The Mount led 7-0 to start the game but did not lead past 11 minutes left in the first half.

After two Julian Reese free throws made the score 24-19 Terps, Gillespie and Rice took the game over. The two guards traded buckets in what turned out to be a 16-0 run. The run propelled the team to a 58-26 lead at halftime. 

Reese was quietly steady, notching nine points and ten boards. The senior big man went 5-for-10 from the free throw line, making four consecutive at one point to the delight of the XFINITY crowd.

The second half saw far less scoring, as the Terps’ lead slowly but surely swelled to a game-high of 40. For the second-straight game, all fourteen players saw minutes for Maryland, with ten finding the bottom of the basket.

“Not putting a lot of mileage on guys this time of year, I think, will pay dividends for all those guys when they do have to put a lot of mileage on come December,” Willard said.

Miguel posted 11 points four days after he was held out of the second half versus Manhattan with ankle discomfort. Queen was held to just one rebound and eight points, and only logged six minutes in the second half.

For Mount St. Mary’s, sophomore guard Dallas Hobbs led the attack for the second game in a row with 21 points on 5-for-5 3-point shooting. 

Maryland will host Florida A&M Monday night, the third of their five-straight home games to open up the 2024-25 season.