Graduate guard Dallin Hall walked slowly towards the end of the bench, a bit of a grin on his face after fouling out.
It was senior day, his senior day, and hardly a soul was seated. A near sell-out crowd in John Paul Jones Arena gave Hall two standing ovations in the game against Virginia Tech Saturday — one before the game as he walked with his parents to receive his flowers, and another when he walked off Tony Bennett Court for the last time.
Zero points, the stat sheet read, five personal fouls, two rebounds, two turnovers, a steal. Oh, and nine assists.
“He does everything for us,” Coach Ryan Odom said postgame. “I didn’t even want to take him out [of the game], but I had to take him out there for a minute just … so he could finish the game.”
Par for the course for Virginia’s starting point guard. The BYU transfer came to Charlottesville with three seasons of Division I basketball under his belt — marketed as a steady presence, a clever game manager and a veteran competitor. Hall has been just that in his 31 games as a Cavalier.
Holding the lowest usage rate of any player on the team, Hall still manages to regularly make an outsized impact on the game as a playmaker and leader. Ranking 10th in the ACC in assists per game, Hall has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.3 on the season — a strong indicator of an effective distributor and trusted offensive conductor. Hall, however, said he looks at a different statistic to gauge his success.
“For me, it's just ultimately about that win,” Hall said. “At the end of the game, that's the only real stat that matters to me. So different games require different things. I try to take what the defense gives me.”
That results-first, stats-second approach is a staple of Hall’s game and part of what has made him so successful in his lone season as a Cavalier. His teammates, like Odom, certainly recognize that. “Captain America,” as they call him, is a selfless leader, a standup guy and a high-level basketball player who makes an impact in a number of ways that do not always show up on a stat sheet.
“Whenever Dallin talks, we listen to him,” senior center Ugonna Onyenso said. “He brings a different kind of energy to the game.”
In a two-and-a-half minute sequence that saw the Cavaliers go on an 8-0 run to retake the lead against Virginia Tech, Hall assisted three baskets, including a lob to Onyenso just seconds after a baseline offensive rebound to keep the play alive. He would find Onyenso again later in the second half, his final assist of the game just 30 seconds before getting his fifth foul.
“I really enjoy situations where you have to respond,” Hall said. “Credit to Tech — they went on a great run. So in those instances, I just try to calm the game down, help us get some easy buckets, because they were making it tough on us. And the guys executed in their screening and [were] in the right positions on the floor.”
That win over the Hokies was not the first time in the season that Hall would play his best basketball in crunchtime. He scored eight points in the last three minutes against Northwestern and iced Virginia’s win over Ohio State with a transition layup and later, a crucial made free throw.
With that composure down the stretch, it should come as no surprise that Hall will continue to be a key starter as Virginia enters the postseason, playing the high-stakes March basketball with which he is already somewhat familiar. In his time as a Cougar, Hall played in four NCAA tournament games, notching a combined 18 assists across 93 minutes of play.
“Playing in the NCAA Tournament is an awesome feeling,” Hall said. “I think just the intensity, the pressure, everything gets higher the farther you go.”
Hall said that what he will remember most fondly of his time as a Cavalier is the journey — the plane rides, the meals, the community. If you had asked him three years ago, Hall said, he never would have guessed that his basketball journey would place him on a 27-4 Virginia squad poised to make a deep run in the national tournament.
Odom, talking about Hall on his senior day, was less surprised about his starting point guard’s career. Hall is a winning player, the Cavaliers’ de facto captain and vital to the team’s success.
“He’s the ultimate leader, he’s not afraid in big moments,” Odom said. “He’s just unbelievable with his commitment to winning. And I couldn’t ask for a better guy to start this journey off with.”
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