Virginia basketball picked up its first commitment for the recruiting class of 2025 as four-star point guard and Charlottesville native Chance Mallory announced his commitment to UVA on Friday afternoon. Mallory, who attends St. Anne’s-Belfield School (STAB) right down the street from John Paul Jones Arena, chose the Cavaliers over Virginia Tech, Villanova, Clemson, Tennessee, and Miami.
“I’m just excited to have the opportunity to stay home and to be able to play the game I love in front of the city I love,” Mallory said in his commitment post, which you can see on Instagram below.
A 5’9″ point guard, Mallory is a consensus four-star recruit and top 100 prospect in the class of 2025 according to each of the major recruiting services. He is ranked No. 85 in the ESPN Top 100, but On3 has him at No. 48 nationally and Mallory is No. 57 overall according to 247Sports, which has him ranked as the No. 7 point guard in the country and the third-ranked player in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Mallory picked up offers from more than a dozen major conference programs, but narrowed down his recruitment to six schools back in late June: Virginia, Clemson, Miami, Tennessee, Villanova, and Virginia Tech. He set official visits to each of those schools, but only made it through the first two visits to Virginia Tech and Virginia before reportedly canceling those visits as he came to a decision. Tony Bennett and the Cavaliers ultimately succeeded in keeping the gifted playmaker in his hometown of Charlottesville.
As a junior at St. Anne’s-Belfield in 2023-2024, Mallory averaged 26.0 points, 4.8 assists, 2.7 steals, and 8.4 rebounds per game, a remarkable feat consider his height at 5’9″. Watch the videos below to see highlights of Mallory’s game both at STAB and for Team Thrill UAA this summer.
With Chance Mallory committing to UVA, the Cavaliers now have one remaining scholarship spot available for the 2025-2026 season. Virginia is still technically in the hunt for other point guards in the class of 2025 like Keyshuan Tillery, who visited recently, and JJ Mandaquit, who is scheduled to visit next week. But the Cavaliers are more likely to now focus their efforts on forwards like Cam Ward and Tre Singleton, who both visited this month, or Nate Ament, a five-star wing and Virginia native who is reportedly going to have more drawn-out recruiting process.
We’ll keep track of all of the UVA basketball recruiting developments on Virginia Cavaliers On SI.
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