Top-50 PG Mallory: ‘Playing for Tony Bennett is a dream come true’

By Jerry Ratcliffe

When it came time to make a commitment to continue his basketball career at the next level, Charlottesville’s Chance Mallory wrestled with the decision. Tennessee, Miami, Villanova, Clemson and Virginia Tech offered him and all those opportunities were tempting.

In the end, hometown Virginia was tugging at the heart of the St. Anne’s-Belfield point guard, one of the top 50 prospects in the nation for the recruiting class of 2025.

“It was a very difficult decision for me and my family,” Mallory told JerryRatcliffe.com this weekend, following his Friday commitment to UVA. “Choosing from such great schools was probably one of the hardest decisions in my life.”

As challenging as the choices were, there was also the opportunity to play for a man that Mallory had admired for a long time, having grown up in the shadows of the Cavaliers’ basketball program.

“I have known Coach Bennett for a long time and the relationship that we have built along the years was a big factor in my decision,” Mallory said. “Being able to play for him is a dream come true.”

Virginia is obviously delighted to add Mallory to the program. The 5-foot-9 point guard is a dynamic, 4-star player, rated among the top 10 point guard prospects in the nation.

As a junior at St. Anne’s, he averaged 26 points per game, along with 4.8 assists, 8.4 rebounds and 2.7 steals. He posted 10 double-doubles for Coach Damin Altizer, who has produced several major college basketball players.

“Coach Bennett says he just loves how hard and how competitive I play,” Mallory said when asked what the Virginia coach has told him about his game.

Word out of UVA’s camp is that Bennett is somewhat loosening up his offensive philosophy to allow a little more freedom, perhaps pace, which would lead to more scoring, and in turn will likely attract more high-profile recruits such as Mallory, who believes he can make an impact on the program.

“I believe I bring something new to the team with my transition scoring and also just my ability to shoot and score the ball, while being able to create shots for my teammates,” Mallory said.