In a frenzy of portal additions in the backcourt, UVa added BYU guard Dallin Hall last week. Hall entered the portal after helping lead BYU to the Sweet 16, beating Ryan Odom’s VCU along the way. Hall comes to Virginia after three years with the Cougars, and has one year of eligibility remaining. Hall played in 100 games for the Cougars, starting 61 of them. He was named to the All-Freshman team in the WCC in 2023, and was honorable mention all Big 12 last year.

A 6-foot-4 guard from Plain City, Utah, Hall was primarily in the point guard role with the Cougars, but can play off the ball as well. Hall scored 6.8 points per game this season, which was his lowest output in his three years, but he played five fewer minutes as a junior than he did as a sophomore, sharing time at the point with standout freshman Egor Demin. Hall scored 9.0 per game as a sophomore, and 7.3 as a freshman.

While his scoring dropped off a bit, Hall was a very good distributor and ball handler. Hall dished out 4.2 assists per game last year and 5.1 the year before; in both years, he averaged less than two turnovers per game. As a shooter, Hall’s three-point shooting average has been in the mid-30’s throughout his career. Hall made 35.3 percent of his attempts this year, taking just over three per game, and is a career 35.9 percent shooter from beyond the arc. Hall scored in double figures nine times this season, including a 22-point effort in a 2OT win at Iowa State in March. Hall was relatively quiet in the NCAA Tournament, scoring just 10 points over the three games, but he did have four assists in the win over VCU and six in the upset of Wisconsin.

UVa’s staff have been in a mad dash to add talent to the roster, and during the dead period, despite not having the ability to host players on Grounds, the Hoos picked up a bunch of commitments. Hall was one of several, but the only one that could be considered a point guard primarily. The idea, for a short time, was that Oklahoma transfer Duke Miles, who had committed a few days earlier, could spend time at the point guard position, though he spent most of his career as an off-ball guard. Hall’s commitment a few days later ended up leading Miles to decommit from Virginia, as he had seemingly been recruited over, or was worried that Hall would cut into his playing time.

So now, Hall is one of two players on the roster who could realistically play major minutes at point guard, along with incoming freshman Chance Mallory. Hall has a lot of experience handling the ball and distributing and he’s not a bad scorer, either. For UVa, Hall fits a major need as the staff has already added a lot of shooting potential from other transfer additions but didn’t have a player, even including Miles when he was in the fold, that had a prolific record of distribution. Hall fits that need to a tee, and he’s played a lot of high-level basketball, so his abilities don’t require much of a projection.

BYU has emerged as a major NIL player in the last couple years, and their donors are very committed to the basketball program. Next year, the Cougars will be led by five-star freshman A.J. Dybantsa, who picked BYU over, well, everyone. BYU also added Baylor standout Robert Wright to their backcourt last week, so minutes would’ve been tougher to come by. Moving to Virginia allows Hall the chance to start and play a bigger role on a rebuilt Cavalier roster. Given his experience, and what UVa has already added, Hall has a great chance to earn the starting point guard role and will have plenty of talent around him to make the roster competitive in his final year of eligibility.

Hall is a good system fit, too. Odom’s teams often have flexibility in the backcourt with several players that can handle the ball, and a bunch that can shoot. Hall fits what UVa has already added to the roster, and the fact that he’s a solid shooter himself means that he’ll both have the opportunity to distribute to others, but will also have opportunities to get his own shots.

As of today, we’re projecting Hall as UVa’s starting point guard in 2025-26. He should work well with Mallory, who will certainly carve out a role of his own and looks to be the point guard of the future. Hall has the size and skillset to play alongside Mallory at times too, which would allow UVa to have multiple quality ball handlers on the court at one time. We expect Hall to be a big part of UVa’s plans right out of the gate, and because he should have more opportunities, we wouldn’t be surprised if Hall ends up having the best statistical season of his career, at least from a scoring perspective, at Virginia.