By Tyler Devine

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Monday was a good day for Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery.

McCaffery signed a contract extension through the 2027-28 season and received a verbal commitment from 2022 New York center Riley Mulvey.

“My relationship with Fran McCaffery over the last two years – we’ve just formed such a great relationship because of him calling me every week,” Mulvey said. “We talk for like 10 to 30 minutes every time. It’s been great relationship building and I think he’s going to be a great coach for me.”

Proud to announce that I’m committing to the university of Iowa #futurehawkeye @IowaHoops @rjrosa113 thank you for the amazing edit pic.twitter.com/HX745dOGgG

— Riley Mulvey ‘22 (@MulveyRiley) March 15, 2021

The 6-foot-10 Mulvey is the first commitment to Iowa’s 2022 recruiting class.

The Albany, New York, native also has scholarship offers from Massachusetts, Siena and Syracuse, according to Rivals.com.

Mulvey said Iowa senior center Luka Garza’s rise to fame and McCaffery’s contract extension were major factors in his decision to commit to Iowa.

“I think the run-and-gun big style with switching everything is a great goal for me to have, being able to guard one through five and being able to play running up the court as a mobile big,” Mulvey said.

Mulvey said that he describes himself as a mobile big man who is solid on the defensive end.

“I would say the best aspect of my game is my help defense, which is going to be awesome for Iowa to have with a big improvement for defense,” Mulvey. “I think my offensive game has turned into more playing with the screen and roll, screen and pop and inside-out player. I’ll play inside-out then pop out and hit a three. I’m going to try to use the three ball to fake them out and go in for more layups and dunks and stuff.”

McCaffery is familiar with the Albany area, after having coached for five years at Siena in nearby Loudonville.

Mulvey said his father met McCaffery several years ago and that Mulvey’s older brother played youth basketball with McCaffery’s son, Connor McCaffery, who is currently a junior guard at Iowa.

Iowa originally offered Mulvey a scholarship in April 2020.