IOWA CITY — Gone is Bennett Stirtz from the Iowa men’s basketball team, but there’s an unmistakable new presence who — at 7 feet, 3 inches — can be a different type of game-changer for the Hawkeyes.
When Hawkeye sophomore Trey Thompson first saw Andrew McKeever, the gigantic transfer from Saint Mary’s, hold an iPhone in his hand, “it looked like a tiny iPod,” he joked.
At 7-3, McKeever is officially the tallest player in Hawkeye basketball history. (Antonio Ramos, at 7-2, held the previous mark.) And during a viewing of Hawkeye practice on July 8, the first media availability for the 2026-27 Hawkeyes, McKeever looked every bit of 7-3.
He is a tall, tall man.
“I don’t know a single person taller than him,” said Iowa senior Cam Manyawu. “He’s the tallest person I’ve ever interacted with, to be honest.”
Manyawu, at a generously listed 6-9, was Iowa’s primary post presence a year ago as the Hawkeyes rode Stirtz and maxed out their season in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.
During more than 30 minutes of 5-on-5 work open to the media, there were several stretches that saw Manyawu and McKeever in the lineup together.
“It makes a huge difference,” Manyawu said. “He takes up so much room in the paint, so it just makes things a lot easier for us on defense.”
Beyond the big measurements, McKeever brings proven production to Iowa. He averaged 8.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last season for Saint Mary’s.
But he doesn’t appear to be Day 1-ready to just start dominating in the post in the demanding, long, deep Big Ten Conference.
First of all, he’s still relatively new to being this tall. He told a funny story about going into COVID-19 pandemic hibernation at 6-foot-2 and then emerging at school the next year at nearly 6-11.
Until that point, he was more of a baseball pitcher (a left-hander, by the way — even though he shoots a basketball right-handed). Thus, he didn’t get serious about basketball until he was a high school sophomore. Now, he’s a fourth-year college junior. That’s not a lot of time for development.
“It was more just the coordination part of (growing so fast), that was the biggest thing to pick up,” said McKeever, who redshirted as a college freshman and still has only 10 career starts. “But I’ve worked on it a lot.”
One area that McKeever visibly needs to improve is his bulk. While he’s listed at 285 pounds, he still looks skinny. That relates to what has been the hardest part at Iowa to date.
“The weight-lifting, honestly,” McKeever said. “A lot of high-intensity, high-energy every single day. It’s good for me, but it’s definitely an adjustment.”
Iowa second-year coach Ben McCollum’s program puts major emphasis on strength training and conditioning in the summer. Players are asked to run to their weight-lifting stations.
On the court, the McCollum style is also way different for McKeever.
Saint Mary’s used McKeever as a back-to-the-basket center. McCollum asks his bigs to move around and facilitate the offense with passing.
“A lot more movement at all times, rather than being stuck in one place (at Iowa),” McKeever said. “Being a big at the last school, it was more like screen, roll, get to the basket. Here, it’s a lot more (to) generate the offense, get the ball, get into a pick and roll, and stuff like that.”
During the open practice, McKeever was smiling a lot. He was vocal on the court.
He was fully aware of what McCollum said after the Elite Eight loss to Illinois, the tallest team in the country last season: “Yeah, need some size. This was hard.”
McKeever feels the pressure to produce in his final two years at Iowa.
“Yeah, of course,” McKeever said. “But it kind of drives me every day to work as hard as I can, to make sure I get the team as good as it can be.”
That Hawkeye camaraderie was very visible during the open practice. With 10 players returning from last year’s team, there’s a vibe of togetherness emanating in interviews. They are collectively motivated to finish better than ninth in the Big Ten, as they did last year.
“Everyone just wants to win,” McKeever said. “There’s no selfishness on the team. Everyone’s high energy all the time.”
Last year, teams could press into Stirtz and Iowa’s shooters without worrying about much of an inside threat. McKeever, as is planned, can change that dynamic. In practices, the two best players to date (according to Manyawu and others) have been perimeter-oriented forwards Tate Sage and Cooper Koch. Those two have more room to operate now that McKeever is here.
McKeever will need time and patience from Iowa fans. But he has the right mental approach, with a long-term vision of reaching the NBA by expanding his game. He also has another good passing big in teammate Trevin Jirak, who looks to have taken a solid step forward into his sophomore season.
This isn’t going to be a one-man team anymore. But there is definitely a new big man who can (eventually) make a big difference.
“It’s helped me. He’s huge,” Sage said. “… He’s starting to figure out the system, and his screens are wide. He’s a good screener, and he can pass, too. He can see over everybody. So, as he gets more settled in, I think he’ll be really good.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
This article originally appeared on Hawk Central: The early impact of 7-3 Andrew McKeever on Iowa basketball | Leistikow
Reporting by Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register / Hawk Central
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
