By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Andrew McKeever has yet to play in a game for the Iowa men’s basketball team, but he already holds an individual record as the tallest player in program history at 7-feet, 3-inches.

Former Hawkeye Antonio Ramos, listed at 7-2, used to have that distinction until McKeever arrived this summer via the transfer portal, and after having played two seasons for Saint Mary’s College in his home state of California.

McKeever met with the Iowa media for the first time on Wednesday, one of a handful of Iowa players that were made available.

With some time, his height won’t be such a big deal, but to see McKeever in person for the first time is an eye-opening experience.

One day after having interviewed Iowa point guards Chit-Chat Wright and Bria Medina, listed at 5-4 and 5-6, respectively, the media was huddled around somebody almost two feet taller and they just couldn’t resist asking McKeever over and over about his height.

One reporter even apologized for “hammering” McKeever about being so tall.

“You’re all good, you’re all good,” McKeever said.

McKeever’s rise as a basketball player didn’t happen until after he grew about eight inches during the Covid-19 global pandemic in 2020, sprouting up from 6-2 to 6-10 as a high school sophomore.

He had been more interested in playing baseball, but as he continued to grow at an incredible rate, McKeever eventually made the switch.

“I was like, yeah, I’ve got to go to basketball,” he said. “So I kind of locked in during my sophomore season.”

And while success in basketball didn’t come right away for McKeever, that was partly due to having grown so fast in that his skills had to catch up with his body.

“I started a little late in the basketball process,” McKeever said. “I didn’t really grow until after Covid. And then also maybe a little bit uncoordinated and a little slow for my size. But I worked on it a lot when I was at Saint Mary’s and I got better at it.”

Iowa head coach Ben McCollum made landing a true post player a priority heading into this offseason, and, obviously, he wasn’t kidding.

The Hawkeyes advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 1987 in McCollum’s first season as head coach before falling to Illinois 71-59 in the Elite Eight.

Iowa ultimately had no answer for Illinois’ size as McCollum acknowledged in his post-game interview just moments after the loss, saying that Iowa had to get bigger on the frontline.

And with McKeever looking to prove himself on a bigger stage, it would prove to be an ideal fit for both sides.

“Their team was so good last year, obviously, they made an Elite Eight run,” McKeever said. “And I was maybe a key piece that they needed, a little bit more size. Their bigs were good, but they just didn’t have the height like some other teams did in the Big Ten. So I figured I could help them out that way.”

McKeever knows that McCollum made landing him a priority and McKeever now uses that as motivation

“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,” McKeever said.

Iowa had to withstand some stiff competition in the transfer portal to land McKeever, who wasn’t used to having multiple schools pursuing him.

“The portal was really crazy, nothing that I’ve been used to,” McKeever said. “I didn’t get recruited too much in high school. I came on my visit here and it was pretty clear what they wanted me to do. Pretty obvious choice for me.”

Iowa’s march to the Elite Eight certainly made an impression, but McKeever already knew about Ben McCollum reputation as a winner.

Prior to coming to Iowa, McCollum led Drake to a 31-4 record in his only season as head coach in 2024-25. He also won four Division II national titles in 14 seasons as the head coach for Northwest Missouri State from 2009 to 2024.

“Obviously, just getting to see them on the biggest stage, that’s a good thing,” McKeever said. “But you could see even before this year how much of a winner coach (McCollum) is. So it added on to it, but you could already see what their pedigree was.”

McKeever and McCollum made a strong connection during the brief recruiting process.

In addition to McCollum being a winner; McKeever also liked how he would fit into McCollum’s offensive system.

It was different than how McKeever played for Saint Mary’s where he averaged 8.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game last season

“I would say it’s just a lot more movement at all times rather than being stuck in one place,” McKeever said. “Being a big at the last school was more like screen and roll and get to the basket and kind of stay there. And here’s it’s a lot more like generate the offense and get the ball into a pick-and-roll and stuff like that.

“Going to the next level is the biggest thing for me, and I felt that being able to expand my game is the biggest thing that was going to get me to achieve that. So I feel like this offense is kind of perfect for me.”

McKeever’s presence near the basket should have a huge impact on 6-9 senior forward Cam Manyawu, who was used mostly as an undersized post player last season.

“It makes my job a lot easier,” Manyawu said Wednesday. “He’s a lot bigger guy so he can guard some of the bigger guys and I can guard guys that are more my size or even a little smaller.

“So it kind of helps me expand my game on that side. And then offensively, he just takes up a lot more space and that helps me as well.”