North Dakota State Transfer Jacari White Commits to UVA Basketball

Matt Newton | Apr 6, 2025

Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Ryan Odom and the Virginia Cavaliers landed a transfer commitment for the second day in a row, as North Dakota transfer guard Jacari White announced his commitment to UVA in a social media post on Sunday afternoon (April 6). White, whose commitment comes just one day after Toledo transfer guard Sam Lewis pledged to the Wahoos on Saturday, comes to Virginia with one year of eligibility remaining.

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A 6'3", 180-pound guard from Orlando, Florida, White is a career 40% three-point shooter who has played in 94 games over the last three seasons with the Bison, including 61 starts. Before arriving Fargo, White spent one year at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota in Bradenton, Florida. White played his first season of Division I basketball at North Dakota State in 2022-2023, playing in 31 games and 10 starts and averaging 7.5 points per game.

The following season, White became a regular starter (starting 22 of 32 games) and averaged 10.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game and shot a sizzling 45.5% from beyond the arc. He also excelled on the other end of the floor, earning a selection to the Summit League All-Defensive Team in 2023-2024. Finally, White had a breakout season this year, scoring 17.1 points per game to go along with 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 45.2% from the floor and 39.8% from three on more than seven attempts per game. White was named a Second-Team All-Summit League selection at the end of the season.

White scored in double figures in all but eight games this season and had 14 games with at least 20 points, including a 27-point explosion against Butler. In that game, which was a 71-68 road win for North Dakota State at Butler on December 10th, White was a flame thrower from beyond the arc, knocking down seven of nine three-point attempts and going 10/14 from the floor. He also had seven rebounds in 36 minutes played as White led the Bison to an impressive road victory against a major conference opponent.

An intriguing aspect of this story is that White reportedly cut his list of schools to five on Wednesday and did not include Virginia in that list, which consisted of Houston, Virginia Tech, Texas, Ole Miss, and West Virginia. With this being a recruiting dead period, it would also seem that White committed to UVA, who was not on his list of finalists less than a week ago, without taking a visit to Charlottesville.

There is a interesting trend emerging in these two first transfer commitments for Ryan Odom and the Cavaliers, as both Sam Lewis and Jacari White are career 40% three-point shooters. Lewis shot 44.4% from three in this past season, while White was just a touch under 40% from deep on a high volume of attempts. As Virginia deals with the loss of one of its best three-point shooters in program history in Isaac McKneely, who is headed to Louisville, picking up transfer commitments from these two reliable shooters is a great start for Odom as he rebuilds the UVA roster for the 2025-2026 season.

Virginia now has five projected scholarship players for next season, as Lewis and White join returning guard Elijah Gertrude and incoming freshmen Chance Mallory and Silas Barksdale. Expect Odom and the Cavaliers to continue to be very active in the transfer portal over the next few weeks.

Keep track of all of the players Virginia has contacted in the transfer portal here: Virginia Basketball: Transfer Portal Contact Live Tracker

Stay up to date on all the latest Virginia basketball transfer portal activity, including outbound transfers from the current roster and UVA's effort to pursue players in the portal, here: Virginia Basketball Transfer Portal: Latest News and Updates

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