Report: Villanova Target Rodney Rice Concludes Official Visits

After taking visits to Villanova and Tennessee during the past week, Wildcats transfer target Rodney Rice doesn’t plan to make any more official visits, per a tweet from Volunteers’ reporter Ryan Schumpert.

That would seem to narrow Rice’s search down to those two schools, although Schumpert’s report noted that Rice still has zoom interviews with other teams on his itinerary. Rice also included USC, Gonzaga, Auburn and a return to Maryland among his top six choices.

After Villanova hired former Maryland head coach Kevin Willard, attention immediately turned to whether the Wildcats could pick over the roster of a Terrapins team that made the Sweet Sixteen during the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Rice, a 6-foot-4, 198 pound shooting guard who averaged 13.8 points per game while making 43.4 percent of shots from the field and 37.4 percent of those from three, is one such target. A rising junior, Rice is one of the top players available at his position and retains two years of eligibility.

The Wildcats currently need to fill at least seven spots on their roster ahead of the 2025-26 season with all five of their starters set to graduate and four players already in the portal… compared to just one incoming recruit and transfer apiece.

Villanova poached both of those new commitments from Maryland, high school senior Chris Jeffrey and rising sophomore Malachi Palmer, and has a series of in-person visits set up for the coming days. Other transfer targets on the Wildcats’ list include Grand Canyon forward Duke Brennan, Temple guard Zion Stanford and Middle Tennessee State product Jlynn Counter.