CHAMPAIGN — Rayvonte Rice returned to Champaign in mid-May when his Italian League team was knocked out of the playoffs. The Centennial graduate and former Illinois guard immediately went to work — with his former teammates on the court and the Illini training staff off it to deal with a foot injury he suffered in Italy.
“It’s a stretched ligament,” Rice said about his injury. “I’ve been rehabbing that, getting it better working with (Illinois athletic trainer Paul Schmidt) and (strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher). Fletch is amazing, obviously, because he changed these guys’ bodies (like) crazy.