Rice Named Mid-Season Finalist For Wooden Award

Feb. 4, 2003

Coral Gables, FL (hurricanesports.com) – University of Miami junior forward Darius Rice (Jackson, MS) is among 30 midseason finalists for the 2002-03 John R. Wooden Award. A national poll was conducted by the Wooden Award Midseason Committee to determine the Top 30 Midseason candidates.

The Wooden Award, which will be presented on April 1 in Los Angeles, is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball and is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 grade point average.

Rice is averaging a team-high 19.2 points per game this season and ranks among the BIG EAST leaders in scoring, rebounding (5.8), steals (1.7), three-point field goals per game (2.5) and three-point field goal percentage (.378).

Rice, a preseason first-team All-BIG EAST selection, ranks first on the team with 17 double-figure scoring games this season including four 20-point games, one 30-point game and one 40-point game. His 43 points against Connecticut on January 20 marked the third highest scoring total in BIG EAST history.

Rice is one of seven BIG EAST players on the list of 30 candidates including Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse), Marcus Hatten (St. John’s), Brandin Knight (Pittsburgh), Emeka Okafor (Connecticut), Michael Sweetney (Georgetown) and Chris Thomas (Notre Dame).