Several members of the University of Central Arkansas men's basketball program have memories of Darious Hall long before his arrival in Conway.
Collin Cooper remembers "a man among boys," who could dunk as an eighth-grader. In middle school, Camren Hunter made a point to be in the same gyms that Hall and Mills high schools played on Friday nights.
Anthony Boone, then a UCA assistant, remembers watching plenty of the four-star recruit as Hall and Mills took home a Class 5A state championship in 2017.
"He was an incredible player," Boone said. "Of course, we were not one of his considerations then."
Since then, Hall's journey has taken him from Little Rock to Fayetteville and the SEC and to Chicago and the Big East Conference. But five years removed from being a touted high school prospect, Hall is close to where he started, 20 miles north of home, playing for UCA.
"It was basically like perfect timing," Hall said. "Everything happening for a reason."
Out of high school, Hall committed to play for Mike Anderson at the University of Arkansas but was granted a release from the program on April 4, 2018, just over two years after committing to the Razorbacks. Less than a month later, he committed to DePaul, where he spent the next two seasons.
In late March, Hall again entered the transfer portal after Blue Demons Coach Dave Leitao was fired earlier that month. Paired with the fact that he'd already graduated, Hall felt his time at DePaul was up.
One of his goals soon became playing closer to home. About a month after entering the portal for a second time, and a series of Zoom calls with the UCA coaching staff, Hall committed to the Bears on April 17 with two years of eligibility remaining.
"We realized we were all tailor-made for each other," Boone told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in April, and that's quickly proven true. Hall is averaging 13.9 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game for UCA -- Both significantly higher marks than he'd posted at either Arkansas or DePaul.
Hall's increase in production partly stems from a bump in minutes. As a freshman for the Razorbacks, Hall averaged 14.8 minutes per game. At DePaul, he averaged 18.9 minutes. In those three seasons combined, he started in less than a quarter of the games in which he saw minutes.
Hall has started all 17 contests at UCA, averaging 28.9 minutes per game.
"We kind of need him to do his thing out on the floor," Boone said, "and he has the ability and the freedom to do it."
Hall has brought his own traits and habits into the UCA locker room and taken on a leadership role.
"He pushes me," Hunter, Hall's roommate, said. "He's really taken me under his wing."
Hunter said at his roommate's behest that the duo often gets to games two hours early to get extra shots in. The same goes for practice, arriving an hour early or heading to the gym for late-night workouts.
Hunter, Cooper and Boone all described an intrepid confidence in Hall.
"He has no type of fear of any team, no matter who we play," Cooper said. "No matter if it's Arkansas or Jacksonville State, he'll come with the same mindset every day."
In a 92-47 loss to defending national champion Baylor, Hall posted a double-double and was one of UCA's three scorers with 10-plus points. In a 97-60 loss to Arkansas, he scored 12 points. And in a 95-82 loss to Arkansas State University, Hall was the Bears' nucleus of success, posting a season-high 30 points to go along with nine rebounds.
A memory of Hall's confident energy that stands out to Boone wasn't something the forward did on the floor, though. It came on the bench, after Hall had fouled out against North Alabama -- one the Bears' eventually won 89-88 in overtime.
"He was working as hard when he wasn't in the game ... just trying to keep the guys going and rally everybody," Boone said.
While he fouled out, Hall finished the victory with 25 points and 13 rebounds. UCA finished its non-conference schedule at 3-10, but the Bears are 3-2 in ASUN play, and Hall's success has tracked with that of his team's.
In five ASUN games, he's averaging a team-high 17.6 points and 9.6 rebounds. Three of his six double-doubles this season have come against ASUN opponents.
Hall's Arkansas ties have also connected a relatively young group of Bears.
"When I got here, I was the only guy from Arkansas on the team," Cooper, a sophomore from Fayetteville said. "We've got a few now and ... I feel like it's helped me feel like it's more of a family bond we've got going."
Since Cooper came to Conway in 2019, he's been joined by three other Natural State natives, all of whom arrived this season in Hall, Hunter (Bryant) and Brendan Simmons (El Dorado).
Those four make up less than a third of UCA's roster, and having more in-state talent is something Boone, a Helena-West Helena native, wants to lean into.
"It's a big priority," Boone said of recruiting in-state talent. "We're going to work hard to get the Arkansas kids, because we want to create that environment, the thought that UCA is a viable option."
It's clear to Boone, too, that the Little Rock native has shown what in-state talent can do in Conway.
"Seeing his success on the court for us, especially as his numbers are continuing to climb as we get further and further in ASUN play, he's a great example of what kids from Arkansas can see," Boone said. "That, 'Hey, I can go to UCA and I can have a good career.''
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