TORONTO — Just two days after her first professional game in Los Angeles, Kiki Rice stepped onto the court for her second. This time, she was in the starting lineup.
The rookie came to the Toronto Tempo via the sixth pick in the WNBA draft, fresh off a national championship with the UCLA Bruins. At the college level, Rice was used to filling the starting point guard role in Los Angeles, but Sunday marked the first time she’d stepped into such a position while playing in the WNBA.
The first game in Los Angeles on May 15 did not start well for the expansion franchise. The Tempo fell into a 19-point hole, and although they recovered to only suffer a four-point loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, that first quarter was a road trip reality check.
With starter Julie Allemand out due to injury, Rice was called on in the Tempo’s second test against the Sparks on May 17. She led the team to a better beginning and then ultimately crafted Toronto’s first win on the road.
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“I think it’s just about being ready and doing whatever the team needed,” Rice said when reflecting on her first WNBA start. “I mean, obviously, I’m with a ton of really great players, so whatever my role is that game, just trying to execute it at the highest level and raise up the level of people around me and trust my preparation in that.”
Rice dropped 19 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field and 8-for-10 from the foul line, a standout showing that kick-started a string of starts for the rookie. Rice had 15 points in Tuesday’s win against the Phoenix Mercury, 11 points in a loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday, and 19 points in a loss to the Portland Fire on Saturday.
Since going scoreless in her debut, Rice has reached double-digit points in each of the six games that followed, showing that she’s begun to adapt to the different style of play at the professional level.
“I feel like each day, each practice, each game, I’m learning and kind of building,” Rice said. “I think it’s not always the easiest transition, just because it happens really quick, and you’re kind of thrown right into it as a rookie.
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“I do think that just the people around me that I have, my teammates, coaches, the entire staff members, really helped me with that transition. And definitely, I would say, like, the pace, the physicality, the size is definitely different across the WNBA to college, but I think [I’m] just getting used to it each time I go out there on the court.”
Rice’s game has translated well to the pros; she’s already averaging close to the stats she posted in her NCAA career and is just one point and one rebound off the averages she had in her final year as a Bruin. A bigger test than the obvious production similarities is whether she can use the same skills and trademarks of her game at this level.
Only time will tell if the tendencies she relied on in college to make her a top-10 draft pick will elevate her game and this Tempo team.
“I’ve always been someone who likes to get downhill, play through physicality,” Rice said. “My comfortability in playing through physicality is something that’s translated over, because that’s usually a pretty big adjustment, but I think I’m pretty comfortable in that area already.”
But it’s not just about how she sees herself stepping up in this new role. The faith her new team has in her also impacts the levels she can reach on the court.
Brittney Sykes stated it simply in the Tempo’s post-game availability on Sunday: “We can trust her.”
“It was one of those things where you just get to watch your rook grow up in real time,” Sykes continued.
In Sykes’ opinion, part of Rice’s early success comes from the fierce attitude the 22-year-old brings on game day.
“You don’t see any type of fear in her eyes,” Sykes said of Rice. “She might have a rookie moment or two, but she bounces back, and she’s fearless going to the basket the way she does. Staying poised like she do, you really can’t read her when it comes to if she’s shaky or not, so that’s a plus for us.”
A strong indicator of Rice’s comfort level is her decision-making and ability to take care of the basketball. Although she has logged the third most minutes (181) of anyone on the team — only after Sykes and Marina Mabrey — she has only committed four turnovers across seven games.
Rice has a humble and quiet presence off the court when speaking with media, but glimpses of the chemistry she’s forming with teammates and the fun she’s having in the league tell the story of her successful adjustment.
In shootaround before Saturday’s game against the Portland Fire, she won the half-court shot competition against her teammates — something she says she doesn’t have much experience with because in college she “never shot the half-court.” Still, just over two weeks into the season, she’s captured that prize twice already.
“She’s been great, like we’ve known it’s why we really wanted her here. We think she’s going to be a great pro,” head coach Sandy Brondello said before Saturday’s game. “I think for a young player, she’s done really, really well, and we’re excited to keep developing her.”