Bouncing Back

AS POINT GUARD MYLES RICE dribbles to set up plays, the ball isn’t all that’s popping on the court. His fingernails flash with team colors, but he didn’t always add such panache to every pass.

Rice, who transferred to Maryland last offseason, frequently had his hair styled in different designs—until it fell out in chemotherapy. “So I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna find something else to express my creativity.’”

He was diagnosed in 2022 with Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that affects the immune system, causing him to miss what would’ve been his redshirt freshman season at Washington State University. Through seven months of grueling treatments, he vowed to return to the court, and now, he’s applying that same grit as a member of new head coach Buzz Williams’ squad.

Rated a top-15 prospect in his home state of Georgia, Rice committed to the Cougars and felt strong as a new arrival. When he noticed some swelling in his neck, he got tested as a precaution.

But on Sept. 12, after calling his mom to wish her a happy birthday, he had to call back with a much more somber message.

“Your mind starts to race. You start thinking of the worst,” Rice says of the diagnosis. “We all leaned on each other to not only assess what the news was, but get through it.”

The series of 14 chemo treatments took a toll: He lost not only his hair, but also muscle mass and slept 16 hours a day, with virtually no energy to eat or shower. Throughout the struggles, he still traveled with his team whenever he could, sneaking in shots here and there.

It all proved worth it: As Rice rang the treatment center’s bell after finishing chemo in March 2023, he also rang in a major winning year. “I threw myself into the deep end” to catch up with conditioning, he recalls, resulting in a Pac-12 Freshman of the Year performance just over a year after his diagnosis.

“It was only the beginning,” he says. “I knew there was a lot more work to be done—not just athletically, but academically and in life.”

After a year at Indiana, Rice joined UMD, drawn by Williams’ coaching style and family-like culture. As he helps lead his new Terp team, Rice’s red, white, black and gold nails are a bright reminder of where he’s been.

“He is a person who exemplifies positivity and making an impact on others,” Williams says. “His story thus far in college will eventually become a book.”