Kansas Forward MJ Rice Plans to Enter Transfer Portal: Report
The roster overhaul continues for the Kansas Jayhawks Wednesday. Forward MJ Rice has decided to enter the transfer portal, according to a report by Jason Jordan, via On3Sports.
Rice joins a healthy list of others who have already done so. Those include guards Bobby Pettiford Jr. and Joseph Yesufu and forwards Cam Martin and Zach Clemence. These four announced their decisions to look elsewhere last week. That’s after the Jayhawks were stunned in a 72-71 upset loss to No. 8 seed Arkansas in the Sweet 16.
As a freshman, Rice appeared in 23 of Kansas’ games this season, averaging 2.2 points and 1.0 rebounds while logging 7.6 minutes per contest. His most productive performance was a 19-point outburst in a victory over Texas Southern back in late November. He also finished in double figures, with 10, in the season opener against North Dakota State.
Out of high school, Rice, from Durham, N.C., was a McDonald’s All-American and the No. 32 overall prospect, with a four-star and 0.9882 rating, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite. He held offers from the likes of Louisville and Providence, among others, eventually choosing Bill Self and Kansas.
Rice and the Jayhawks were favored to advance out of the West Region, slated to be played in Las Vegas, but they were unable to even get out of the first two rounds, held not that far away from home in Des Moines.
So now they’ll look to next year. And they’ll do so now without at least five players from this year’s roster.
