Chance Mallory is officially staying home and will join the Virginia Cavaliers in 2025. The hometown kid announced his commitment to Tony Bennett and the University of Virginia on Friday, choosing UVA over Virginia Tech, Clemson, Miami (FL), Tennessee, and Villanova.

Mallory is one of the more talented point guards in the 2025 class. According to 247sports.com he is the No. 3 player in the state of Virginia, the No. 7 Point Guard in the country, and the No. 57 player in the nation.

Coming out of Saint Anne’s-Belfield (STAB) High School, Mallory has been a standout prospect and a Virginia target for years. In his junior year, he averaged 26 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 4.8 APG and has been showcasing his one-of-a-kind talent throughout the summer with Team Thrill.

Mallory is undersized at 5-foot-9. But there are few players who can do what he can on the basketball court and do it as well as he can. He is reliable with the basketball, has the handles of a true point guard, deep range, a quick trigger, and has a full arsenal of finishes around the rim. He shot 45% from the floor this summer, 38% from behind the arc, and is a 90% free throw shooter (thank goodness).

He is a certified scorer who can get it done at all three levels. Mallory is silky smooth, plays under control, uses change of speed and direction to create space to operate, and has a deep bag of finishes around the rim. There will undoubtedly be an adjustment period to competing against the size and strength of ACC basketball. But he has the skill set to

The immediate comparison all UVA fans will make for Mallory is Kihei Clark. While they’re both small point guards, Mallory is a completely different player. He’s far more of a true scorer than Clark, gets his shot off quicker, and can hit a three in JPJ all the way from STAB. Meanwhile his area for improvement will likely be on the defensive end where he’ll need to learn to heat up the ball like Clark did in his time in Charlottesville.

Tony Bennett and his sales team must have made quite the pitch to Mallory when it came down to it last weekend on his official visit to Virginia. He canceled all future visits immediately after the visit and decided to stay home shortly thereafter.

Mallory is UVA’s first commitment of the 2025 high school recruiting class. He is the program’s point guard of the future, and fills a crucial hole in the program’s recruiting plans for 2025.

The ‘Hoos will look to secure a forward to fill out the class. The No. 4 ranked 2025 prospect Nate Ament, the No. 50 ranked Cam Ward, and No. 84 ranked Tre Singleton (who is scheduled to visit Charlottesville this weekend) are the top names to watch on that front.

For now, though, Mallory is an awesome pick up. The Charlottesville kid is following fellow STAB product and Virginia point guard Kymora Johnson by staying home. He’ll surely be a fan favorite in the orange and blue, and could be the perfect point guard to help lead the ‘Hoos back to consistent national contention.