Rice Outlasts and Outplays Nation's Top-Ranked Team
His friends may call him Reese, but his game is much sweeter than any candy bar images his name might conjure. And he always seems to leave his opponents in pieces.
The 21,750 in attendance at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, NC and everyone else who watched Boston College's 85-78 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday night, witnessed something I've watched for the past six years, something that has become commonplace now for ACC basketball players, coaches, and fans: a virtuoso performance by the Eagles' star guard and lone fourth-year contributor, Tyrese Rice.
What makes Rice's 25-point, eight-assist performance against the nation's top team so special goes well beyond the numbers. Everyone knows Rice can put the ball in the basket, and he has already had several huge games throughout his collegiate career, including a 46-point scoring barrage in a losing effort against the Tar Heels last season at Chapel Hill.
But the Boston College point guard's poise, leadership, and ability to involve his teammates throughout the game and take over during crunch time set him apart from other high scorers in the ACC—and throughout the country.
Rice was willing and able to get his younger teammates involved early and often in Sunday's contest as his eight dimes will attest, and the performances of sophomore Rakim Sanders (22 points) and freshman Reggie Jackson (career-high 17 points) were crucial to the Eagles' win over previously unbeaten UNC.
However, Rice's quiet confidence and poise calmed his young teammates during a late North Carolina rally, and his ability to make pressure-packed free throws with the game on the line enabled his team to seize victory and pull away to a comfortable margin down the final stretch.
The simple fact that Rice was the best "Ty" on the court should be enough to have college fans and NBA scouts drooling and future opponents sweating. Rice thoroughly outplayed his better known counterpart, UNC's speedy point guard, Tywon Lawson (10 points, four assists), and he outscored the NCAA's reigning POY, Tyler "Psycho T" Hansbrough, by four points.
Tyrese Rice first showed up on the national scene with a 30-point game against the Kevin Durant-led Oak Hill Academy in 2005.
Four years ago, Rice was the top player for the L.C. Bird High School Skyhawks (Chesterfield, VA), and though he had long shone against Richmond-area public high school competition, it took what has now become a routine performance for the All-ACC gunner against the nation's top prep team to gain the attention of big-time basketball scouts.
"Candy Bar" (Rice's nickname) may not be "The Answer," but his play is reminiscent of another Virginia high school legend and is nothing short of Iverson-esque.
Curry Can Add to His Davidson Legend at Second-Ranked Duke
America's leading scorer and 2008 NCAA Tournament wunderkind, Davidson College's Steph Curry, has yet another opportunity to add to both his mystique and his NBA Lottery status in a primetime, nationally televised game on Wednesday (ESPN, 7:00 pm) against the Duke Blue Devils.
By now, anyone with a pulse and even the faintest interest in college basketball knows the Steph Curry story.
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