Tony Bennett’s program is on a transfer recruiting roll.
On Tuesday, the Virginia coach added a commitment from Charlottesville native Carter Lang, a 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward who began his college career at Vanderbilt this past season after starring locally at St. Anne’s-Belfield. A source said Lang will be a walk-on with the Hoos.
And his coach at STAB, Damin Altizer, a former Cavaliers guard who has spent six seasons in charge of the Saints, said there’s one trait in particular Lang will provide right away for UVa.
“He is all about winning,” Altizer said. “He had 20-20 games for us and then games that weren’t quite as substantial. But as long as the scoreboard went our way, he was a happy kid, which can’t be said about everybody. His willingness to put the team first certainly fits with what Coach Bennett is about.”
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Altizer has trained members of the Cavaliers and UVa alums-turned-professionals in past offseasons, too, so he’s familiar with skills and attributes valued by Bennett.
For the Commodores, Lang played in 24 games and started seven as a freshman. He averaged 1.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
Lang had a nine-rebound effort against Tennessee this past February, and scored seven points and grabbed 11 rebounds in his college debut against Presbyterian in November. His scoring high was eight points against Boston College that same month.
“He’s somebody who is going to clean the glass,” Altizer said. “I know at Vandy they had a stat of perfect box outs in practice, and [Lang] said he set the team record. So, it’s the intangible things that don’t show up in box scores, but are the winning plays. You know he’s going to do them. He’s extremely coachable.”
While at St. Anne’s-Belfield, Lang averaged 18.3 points and 14.9 rebounds per game and was a two-time VISAA All-State selection. He logged over 1,000 rebounds in his career.
“You hear a lot about kids scoring 1,000 points in high school, but you don’t hear a lot about 1,000 rebounds,” Altizer said. “It’s a testament to his workmanlike attitude.”
Altizer said Lang can shoot the ball well also.
He was a three-star recruit by Rivals and 247Sports before signing with Vanderbilt, which made a coaching change this offseason by bringing in former James Madison coach Mark Byington after the Commodores fired former coach Jerry Stackhouse.
Lang has three seasons of eligibility remaining and he’ll join a roster Bennett has retooled since the Cavaliers’ 2023-24 campaign ended.
Altizer’s conversations with Lang weren’t overly complicated while Lang was navigating the transfer portal.
“So many kids end up chasing for four and five years and they get to the end of their college career and they’ve never enjoyed it,” Altizer said. “So, my advice to Carter was, ‘Go to where you know you’re going to be happy.’ And with the combination of basketball, academics, family, and location, at the end of the day, I think he made that choice.”
He’s the fourth transfer UVa has earned a commitment from since Saturday when Florida State transfer guard Jalen Warley became the first. On Monday, Duke transfer forward TJ Power as well as San Diego State transfer forward Elijah Saunders made their decisions.
Gone from this past season are guard Reece Beekman and forward Ryan Dunn, who both declared for the NBA Draft, as well as forwards Jordan Minor and Jake Groves after they exhausted their eligibility. Forward Leon Bond III left UVa and announced his move to transfer to Northern Iowa and guard Dante Harris departed via the transfer portal, too.
