Mike Woodson’s Point Guard
Indiana’s biggest problem last season was the lack of guards who could consistently beat their man off the dribble to initiate any kind of offensive set. So Mike Woodson went and got Myles Rice from the transfer portal.
We ran a scouting report on him at the time, but some points bear repeating:
- Eligibility-wise, he is a sophomore who could be at Indiana for three seasons.
- His assist rate improved as the season went on, and would’ve led Indiana if you look at just conference play.
- He averaged 14.8 points and 3.8 assists per game as a freshman, leading to his winning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
His head coach is high on him too, comparing Rice to Allen Iverson when asked for an NBA comparison at Big Ten Media Day. It’s safe to say he will be the starting point guard.
Last season at Washington State, Rice averaged 33.2 minutes per game, just a touch over what Jalen Hood-Schifino averaged in his lone season at Indiana. Indiana will have more guard options, but it’s good to know its new PG1 can shoulder a heavy load of minutes.
As noted in our scouting report, Rice hasn’t been a knock-down shooter to this point in his career, hitting just 27.5% of his attempts last season. He didn’t rely too much on it though, getting 63% of his points at the rim and attempting fewer than four 3-pointers per game.
That’s not to say he couldn’t improve. With more guard talent around him, he should be on the receiving end of some kickouts for open shots that he didn’t see at Washington State.
The only real question for Rice this season is just how much he will have the ball in his hands. He was used in over a quarter of Washington State’s possessions last year but is now expected to share the backcourt with other high-usage guards like Kanaan Carlyle and Trey Galloway. Then there’s Gabe Cupps and Jakai Newton.
Given Rice’s assist rate and extremely low turnover percentage, which would have led Indiana last year, I expect him to be the primary ball handler most of the time he’s on the court.
He’ll probably be off ball occasionally – and Indiana hopes to play a lot in transition this year – but as far as the half court offense goes, Rice will probably be the initiator on most of Indiana’s possessions.
In this role, Rice may see his scoring numbers drop a bit from last season, but his assist rate could go up. He didn’t have many shooters around him last season with the Cougars, while Indiana has a pair of sharpshooting wings in Mackenzie Mgbako and Luke Goode, plus Carlyle in the backcourt.
Overall, Rice will be asked to do a lot for Indiana this year, but it’s nothing he hasn’t done before. With the talent around him this upcoming season, he’ll have more scoring options around him than he’s had in the past, which should only make things easier for the reigning Pac-12 freshman of the year.