The Miami Hurricanes basketball team landed this coveted Class of 2020 recruit

The University of Miami men’s basketball team got its first verbal commitment from the Class of 2020, and it was a big one.

Matt Cross, a four-star forward from Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, announced on Tuesday night that he had chosen Miami. His other finalists were Indiana, Florida, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Butler.

Cross, who is 6-7 and 225 pounds, is a hybrid forward who was one of the hottest players on the recruiting trail this summer. He averaged 23.3 points and 9.5 rebounds in 18 games with Boston-based club BABC in Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL). He plays for the same club team as former Hurricane Bruce Brown, now with the Detroit Pistons, and the same high school as UM freshman Anthony Walker.

Recruiting site 247Sports has Cross ranked No. 78 overall and No. 19 among small forwards. Cross is a native of Beverly, Mass., and was a promising football player before fracturing his leg as a ninth grader during the Massachusetts 3A Super Bowl.

“Miami was a great fit for me and there was connections with the people around me like my AAU coach Leo Papile whose word means a lot to me and the culture and environment I think can help my game and as a person and help get to be a possible pro one day,” Cross told 247Sports.

This story was originally published September 4, 2019 at 12:10 PM.