Nick Anderson has always been about three things: His family, academics, and basketball.
So it all kind of made sense when, after putting his name in the transfer portal last spring after a couple of months at Prairie View, he answered the phone and Rice was on the other end offering a scholarship.
“My house is right down the street, my family is here,” said Anderson, who starred for Prairie View for 12 games before an injury derailed his 204-2025 season. “We’re a super tight-knit family, and they’ve been at pretty much all of my games. I have 10 to 20 people showing up at every game, so just that support system, and also the coaching staff. They made me feel super welcome when I came on my visit, and from the day I went in the portal, they were calling me every day. They were pretty much the frontrunners from Day 1.”
It’s been nothing but harmonic since. Rice coach Rob Lanier was looking for a scoring guard to pair up with Trae Broadnax in the backcourt. Anderson was seeking a fresh start after spending the first two seasons of his college career at Division III University of St. Thomas and then last year at Prairie View.
“At my D-III, I thought I was a good player; I was playing well. I never expected it to really go anywhere. It’s been a journey for sure.”
Nick Anderson
The two sides have gotten what they’ve wanted. Anderson and Broadnax have become the dynamic backcourt Lanier envisioned, with both essentially serving as co-leading scorers for the Owls. Anderson has landed a prominent role at a Division I school, something that seemed out of reach when he came out of Clear Creek High School with few options before landing at St. Thomas.
“It’s been pretty good,” Anderson said of his transition to Rice this season. “I’ve been very grateful for a lot of things that I’ve been able to do this year and a lot of things that Rice has done for me. Last year was kind of a get-through-it type of situation. I feel like this year that I’m surrounded by people who care about me and who want to see me succeed and are really just working in my best interest. That’s been really good.
“The guys I’m surrounded by, we don’t have any bad energy in the organization. Without that, it’s a lot easier to come together as a group and everybody just works hard towards the same goal.”
While Anderson has certainly landed in a role that suits him, there was controversy about how things went down in his one and only season at Prairie View under head coach Byron Smith. He appeared in just 12 games for the Panthers, leading the SWAC and ranking inside the nation’s top with 19.1 points per game. Anderson then suffered an ankle injury (???) that derailed the rest of his season before even getting to SWAC play.
Next thing anyone knew, the 6-foot-3 guard entered the transfer portal last spring and ended up at Rice with two years of eligibility after the NCAA granted him a redshirt because he didn’t exceed the maximum games played to redshirt.
“Just an unfortunate circumstance going down the injury like I did. I think we could have accomplished a lot in conference. I think Coach knew that,” said Anderson, who is a senior academically but a junior in terms of playing eligibility. “We all knew that, and that’s why he was pretty upset when I went down. There just wasn’t anything we could really do about it, and I was just blessed to have the NCAA give me the year back so I get to have another year to play. It was good to get that back because I felt like I had a pretty good thing going that year.”
Anderson has kept that good thing going this season, with his reputation as a dynamic scorer continuing. But he has been asked to do more this season, which is where the challenge has sometimes come.
As Lanier puts it, Anderson can score the basketball in his sleep. He is pushing him, however, to become more of a complete player who also plays good team and individual defense, who instinctively knows when to go over or under a screen, and who dissects a scouting report with precision.
“What’s unique is this year as we’ve gone through the year, his production has been relatively consistent, but he is starting to understand what it means to be a complete player,” said Lanier, who is in his second season leading the Owls. “As that picture is crystallizing for him, he’s trying. He can score in his sleep, so he is always going to be able to do that. But there is a difference between being productive and really having a high impact on winning. He’s putting that together, and it’s fun seeing him No.1 become more cognizant of what it even means to be complete and all the other things that go into a game.”
“I think that stuff is starting to crystallize for him, how much more there is to the game. And how much more he is capable of bringing to the game. It’s been neat watching him; he’s not there yet, but that’s what we are going through together.”
Anderson admits that the push to become a more complete player has come with challenges, but he has bought into the vision.
“It’s definitely not easy,” said Anderson, who is averaging 14.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and shooting 42% from the field. “It’s been a struggle, just learning a different way to play the game as well as learning more about the defensive side of the ball and giving more energy towards that. Putting it all together and being the best complete player that I can be has definitely been a challenge. But I think I took it head-on. I’ve improved on some things, and there are things that I’m still working on right now.”
The transition has been made less complicated by being teamed up with an experienced guard like Broadnax. Anderson has found a backcourt mate he can count on, someone who has taken the time to understand his game and where it needs to grow.
“Obviously, he is really talented. He can score in a multitude of ways,” said Broadnax, who is averaging 14.9 points per game. “It’s my job as the primary ball handler to find him in his spots, coming off screens, catch and shoot, and running in transition. So it kind of makes it easy because we complement each other. I play a lot with the ball in my hands, and he scores a lot off the catch, playing off of close outs, so we kind of complement each other like that.”
Anderson sees this new opportunity as another step in a journey that started in almost obscurity at St. Thomas, took a brief stop at Prairie View, and now has him on a bigger stage than he could have imagined when he came out of Clear Creek.
“I’m very blessed to be where I am,” he said. “I’ve been to several schools, and at this point I’ve had a lot of experiences to play with a lot of guys and for a lot of good coaches. I’ve kind of been all over the place, and it’s been pretty cool.”
