Penn State men’s basketball sophomore transfer Eli Rice is out for the remainder of the season with an undisclosed injury, head coach Mike Rhoades announced Friday.
Mike Rhoades announced that Eli Rice is out for the remainder of the season.
No details about the injury.
— Brennan Valladares (@Valladares7B) November 29, 2024
“Eli Rice will be out for the rest of the season with an injury,” Rhoades said during his media availability.
“As you guys know, Penn State policy is to not discuss specifics related to his injury, but I did want to let you guys know that he’ll be out for the remainder of this season. My number one priority with Eli is his health and his wellness and safety. He’s an integral part of us building this program and building it the right way… [Our] attention is on his health and getting [it] back to 100.”
“[It] breaks your heart to see a kid work so hard and work so hard to try to get back with his teammates, and it just doesn’t happen,” Rhoades continued.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“But you know, the number one thing that I’m always going to pride ourselves on and do it the right way is we’re always going to put the players’ safety and health first… [He’s] an awesome kid from a great family, and the kid loves basketball, and he’s a hard worker… [but] it’s all about getting him healthy so he can get back on the court and help Penn State win basketball games.”
Rice joined the Nittany Lions in April after spending his freshman year at Nebraska. He appeared in 17 games for the Cornhuskers, putting together averages of 4.2 points, 0.4 assists and 1.4 rebounds. Rice was one of six freshmen nationally to attempt at least 58 percent of his shots from 3, shoot at least 37 percent from deep and have a defensive rebound percentage of 13.5 percent.
This year, his only game was against Saint Francis on Nov. 12, where he logged seven minutes and two rebounds.
Penn State’s next game will be on Sunday as it hosts Buffalo at 2 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center.
