UNC Basketball: Matthew Hurt visit primer

Matthew Hurt is set to take his official visit to UNC this weekend but don’t expect him to make a decision anytime soon

This weekend will be a big one for the University of North Carolina basketball program.

The No. 12 Tar Heels are set to host No. 4 Gonzaga in a matchup of top 15 teams as well as a rematch of the 2017 National Championship Game. UNC came out on top in that 2017 game, winning another national championship for the program.

But along with the game, the Tar Heels will be hosting a very important recruit.

Class of 2019 five-star forward Matthew Hurt will take his official visit to UNC this weekend as his recruitment continues. Hurt recently announced he would be taking at least official visits, setting one to UNC, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky.

Last weekend Hurt was in Lexington to visit Kentucky as UNC will be his second official. Duke will get the third and Kansas will get the fourth in the Spring. There’s a chance Hurt will take a fifth visit but he has not announced one of yet.

Hurt is a big recruit on UNC’s recruiting board after missing out on wings Boogie Ellis, Josh Green, Wendell Moore and Zeke Nnaji over the past few months. The Tar Heels have a need on the wing next season with Cam Johnson, Luke Maye and Kenny Williams graduating along with Nassir Little expecting to leave. Coby White is also a candidate to leave after one year as well.

The Minnesota native’s recruitment has been a long one and it’s expected to continue into the Spring. He’s not ready to make a decision and with two of his visits coming this Spring, it’s likely he won’t have a decision until after April.

The Tar Heels have been in pursuit of Hurt for a long time with head coach Roy Williams making trips to Minnesota to visit him with the most recent one coming this week.  With Hurt not making a decision until Spring, Williams will have plenty of opportunities to see him again.

The fact that UNC is getting an official visit is a good sign for them in this recruitment is big. This 2019 class started off good with point guard Jeremiah Francis verbally committing and then Armando Bacot following suite in August.

But since then, it’s been a struggle.

As of now the 247 Sports Crystal Ball predictor has the Kansas Jayhawks as the favorites at 83 percent but a prediction hasn’t been made since July of 2018. And none of the big experts have made a prediction yet.

Hurt has been quiet about his recruitment thus far so it’s hard to really gauge where the Tar Heels stand in his recruitment.

This weekend gives UNC a big opportunity to make an impression on the Minnesota native and improve their chances. A win over Gonzaga in a really good Dean Dome environment can go a long way in landing him.

We wont know how the visit went until after the weekend but don’t count the Tar Heels out of this race just yet.

For more on Hurt and other UNC basketball recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.