UNC Basketball: Roy Williams to meet with this graduate transfer

Graduate transfer set to meet with UNC basketball program next week

The North Carolina Tar Heels took their lumps this season on the recruiting trail, missing on a number of high-profile targets including Vernon Carey, Josh Green, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Wendell Moore. They did, however, receive a commitment from 5-star center Armando Bacot, and are likely to get a pledge from top-5 prospect Cole Anthony in the coming weeks.

Now, though, with the 2019 recruiting cycle winding down, and very few uncommitted prospects remaining, the UNC coaching staff is putting on a full court press for any and every player that could potentially fill a roster spot on next season’s team.

The Tar Heels have been keeping tabs on a number of transfer players including Akron graduate transfer Daniel Utomi, who’s overall experience and skill on the offensive end of the court could provide UNC with a viable fifth starter. North Carolina has also reached out to Little Rock graduate transfer Rayjon Tucker, who, like Utomi, could come in and make an immediate impact in Chapel Hill next season.

And according to Rivals recruiting analyst Dan McDonald, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams is set to meet with Charleston Southern graduate transfer Christian Keeling next week.

"“The Augusta, Georgia native will be taking his first official visit to Georgia Tech this weekend,” McDonald said. “He will spend a second visit at Clemson next weekend. He has a meeting set up with Roy Williams and the UNC staff next week to determine for both sides if it is the right fit. Arizona, Butler, Georgia, Iowa State, Maryland, NC State, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and several others have been involved. Look for him to make a short list sometime after returning from Georgia Tech this weekend.”"

It’s no surprise that Keeling has so many schools looking to obtain his services in his final year of college eligibility, what with his tremendous offensive skill set and ability to hit shots from long-range.

The 6-foot-4, 175-pound shooting guard has averaged no less than 17.3 points per game in any of his three college seasons. During the 2018-19 season, he scored 18.7 points per game to go along with 6.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals. He also shot a career-best 38 percent from three-point range, and better than 46 percent from the floor. He’s also started 79 of his 93 games at the collegiate level, and never averaged fewer than 31.2 minutes per game in a season.

It’s unknown what Keeling’s timeline for a decision is at this point, but I look for him to move fairly quickly on picking his college destination this fall.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on Keeling, and everything North Carolina basketball.