Four-star point guard Chance Mallory released his top five including Tennessee basketball on Thursday afternoon and has his commitment date set.
Mallory is announcing his commitment on March 22 and is down to a top group that includes Maryland, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
The 5-foot-9 point guard ranks as a four-star recruit and the No. 55 player in the 2025 recruiting class according to the 247sports composite rankings. Mallory also ranks as the No. 9 point guard in his class and the No. 3 player in the state of Virginia.
The blue-chip recruit is a former Virginia commit who backed off his commitment after Tony Bennett announced his retirement. But a Charlottesville native, Mallory is still considering Virginia with most expecting him to not make a decision until the Cavaliers find Bennett’s replacement.
But Mallory has set his decision date before Virginia named Bennett’s replacement. Virginia will likely have named a new coach by March 22 but how all the factors affect the Cavaliers chances of landing Mallory is uncertain.
Mallory has taken three visits to Tennessee during his recruitment, first visiting the Vols last March for their regular season finale against Kentucky. He returned to Tennessee for a visit in December when his high school, St. Anne’s-Belfield School, played in a Christmas tournament at Knoxville Catholic. Mallory last came to Tennessee for the Vols matchup against Florida on the first day of February.
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Maryland is another major player Mallory due to his ties to the Terrapins, playing for an Under Armor AAU team based out of Baltimore. Mallory also officially visited Vanderbilt in February. That was his first official visit to see the Commodores.
Tennessee currently has two signees in its 2025 recruiting class in four-star wing Amari Evans and four-star center De’Wayne Brown. This is an incredibly important recruiting class for Rick Barnes and Tennessee basketball due to the eight scholarships they to work with in filling out its roster for the 2025-26 season.
The Vols have six seniors on their current roster including returnees Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack and Jordan Gainey as well as incoming transfers Darlinstone Dubar, Chaz Lanier and Igor Milicic. They started the season with two scholarship spots unfilled. Cam Carr leaving the program made it three for the spring semester.
