Former Kansas wing MJ Rice commits to NC State

It was quite the productive weekend in Raleigh, apparently. DJ Horne, Ben Middlebrooks and MJ Rice each visited NC State, and all three have now committed to play for the Wolfpack next season. Rice announced his commitment on Wednesday morning.

Kevin Keatts recruited Rice out of high school, and that connection, along with his North Carolina roots, no doubt helped NC State come out on top this time around. Rice is a former four-star prospect who was a top-40 player in the 2023 class; his lone season at Kansas was underwhelming, as he was limited by injury and never cracked the rotation. (He did not play in KU’s game against State in November.)

His best performance last season came against Texas Southern in late November, when he scored 19 points on 6-9 shooting (nice) in 22 minutes. For the season, he was 17-34 on twos and 3-15 from beyond the arc.

He appeared in 14 conference games for Kansas, but logged double-figure minutes only three times. Which doesn’t change the fact that he still has loads of potential, and hopefully the change of scenery proves beneficial all around.