Villanova Transfer Target Rodney Rice to Visit USC

Villanova Men’s Basketball transfer target Rodney Rice cancelled all of his remaining recruiting visits on Sunday, April 13, soon after making trips to the Wildcats and the Tennessee Volunteers.

While that made it look like the sought-after guard would choose between one of those two schools, Rice shook things up just one day later, scheduling a surprise trip to Los Angeles and USC per a report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. Rice retains two seasons of college eligibility.

The Trojans made Rice’s initial top six list, posted on April 10, and presumably made him an excellent offer in order to regain a foothold in his recruiting process.

Rice played for the Maryland Terrapins under new Villanova head coach Kevin Willard during the 2024-25 season, putting up an average of 13.8 points per game on 43.4 percent shooting for a team that made the Sweet Sixteen. One of his Maryland teammates, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, already committed to Tennessee, which could give the Volunteers an inside edge in Rice’s recruiting, much like Willard could with the Wildcats.

Villanova still needs to fill six spots on their roster ahead of next season. Other transfer targets include Tafara Gapare, a former top 100 recruit who played for Willard at Maryland, Grand Canyon forward Duke Brennan, Washington State transfer Nate Calmese and Middle Tennessee State product Jlynn Counter.