By Jerry Ratcliffe
They call him Captain America, and Saturday night, Dallin Hall showed everyone why.
With Virginia struggling to shake the rust of an 11-day exam break, the Cavaliers found themselves trailing Maryland by a 19-11 count with only five minutes left in the first half. As UVA coach Ryan Odom said afterward, there was a lid on the basket.
Hall, more often than not a reluctant shooter, opened fire early in the second half and never let up as he fueled the Cavaliers to an 80-72 win.
The California native and BYU transfer point guard offered up near perfection in lifting his No. 23-ranked UVA teammates to their 10th win in 11 games. Hall was 8 for 8 from the field, including a 3-pointer, was 3 for 4 at the free-throw stripe, for a game-high 20 points, dished out 6 assists, turned it over only twice and made 3 steals with 3 rebounds.
What was impressive about Hall’s game against the Terps was his aggressive nature, knifing through the lane for layups, something Virginia fans hadn’t seen a lot of from the grad transfer. Five of his buckets came on drives, along with a stickback.
His second basket of the night capped a 17-0 UVA run extended from 3:11 to go in the first half through the first minute of the second half, giving the Cavaliers a 28-19 lead. During a two-and-a-half-minute span inside 8 minutes to play, Hall drilled in 11 consecutive points, lifting Virginia from a 53-47 lead to a 64-47 advantage with only five minutes remaining.
“Dallin was huge,” Odom said afterward. “He’s been in some big moments over the course of his career and he’s determined to be a leader for this team.”
The Virginia coach said he texted Hall on Friday night to encourage him, and obviously the guard got the message.
Odom has been hearing Hall’s voice more and more in practice, a more assertive voice, which kind of goes against the mild-mannered, aw-shucks nature of the captain. But it’s something this team needs, and Hall has recognized that and embraced it as part of his role.
“Our guys respond to him, they respect him so much and it was great to see him play that way, the way that we needed him to play tonight,” Odom said.
There’s no question Virginia’s players needed Hall to step up with his leadership on Saturday. Thijs De Ridder was clearly off his game (1 for 8 and only 5 points), the 3-pointers weren’t falling for UVA’s gunners, and Maryland, now having lost five of its last six games, was hungry and smelled some blood in the water.
Enter Hall, who got some strong support, either points-wise or otherwise, from Devin Tillis, Jacari White and Chance Mallory.
“[Hall] is everything for us,” Tillis said afterward. “He’s our captain. We call him Captain America. He’s ultimately our leader and when he’s scoring 20 points, it just fuels the fire even more. To have a guy like that at the head of the snake, to have a game like that is really remarkable and it speaks to the work that he’s put in throughout the year.”
After speaking about what it meant to wear Virginia on his chest and for thanking the fans for showing up on a late December night during the holiday season, the Captain America question finally came up to Hall. He was almost embarrassed by the recognition — we told you he was a modest guy — but he explained the moniker nonetheless.
“Yeah, well that would make everyone else The Avengers,” Hall grinned, referring to the Marvel comics characters. “We had summer conditioning, I was trying to be a leader, and we were running and I was cheering guys on while I was running.
“So after that, everyone was like, ‘Oh, it’s Captain America,’ like in the scene (movie goers will get this) where [Captain America] passes his teammates, he’s like on your left. Ever since that, it kind of stuck.”
Hall has been through a lot in his career and it was important for Virginia to have someone to lean on during a sticky situation that could have easily gone sideways, had it not been for an experienced leader who never panicked, never lost his cool.
Captain America to the rescue.
