By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – For the first time this season, the Iowa men’s basketball team will play an official game away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena when it faces Virginia Tech on Tuesday in Sioux City.

Tuesday’s game will also be the first of three straight games against Power 5 opponents for the 2-0 Hawkeyes, who defeated mid-majors Lipscomb and Eastern Illinois in the first two games by scores of 76-54 and 91-47, respectively.

Iowa will also face Creighton this coming Sunday at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines before facing Xavier on Nov. 20 in Cincinnati.

Iowa head coach Ben McCollum held a zoom with the media on Monday and was asked about the status of 7-foot-3 center Andrew McKeever, who missed the first tow game because of a back injury.

“I’m not lying, I don’t totally know,” McCollum said. “The best way that I describe it is I go into the games with two different plans and then figure it out from there. And so that’s what I did last game and that’s what I’ll do this game.

“It’s just one of those things; backs are strange. An ankle is obvious, it’s like, okay, you’ve got a sprained ankle, you’re fine. But backs are so tricky. It’s like soft-tissue injuries. You just have no idea how it’s going to feel the next day.

“I think he definitely could play. And I do have a plan in case he does play.”

McKeever transferred from Saint Mary’s College where he led the West Coaat Conference in rebounding last season with a 9.2 per-game average. The Livermore, California native is one of four newcomers on the Iowa roster, along with point guard Ty’Reek Coleman, a transfer from Illinois State, and first-year players Jaidyn Coon and Ethan Harris.

The 6-6 Coon, who is from Storm Lake, led Iowa in scoring in the season opener against Lipscomb with 12 points, while second-year guard Peyton McCollum, who is the son of Ben McCollum, led Iowa in scoring against Eastern Illinois with 14 points.

Coleman has been in double digits in both contests. He was 5-for-5 from the floor, scoring 13 points and dishing out a career-high six assists in the win over EIU. Coleman averages 11.5 points, four rebounds and five assists.

Virginia Tech, meanwhile will bring a 2-0 record into Tuesday’s game with wins over Coppin State (88-54) and Mercer (96-67).

Four Virginia Tech players are averaging in double figures with Amani Hansberry leading the way at 19.5 points and seven rebounds. He is shooting 62.5 percent from the field.

Ben Hammond (18.0, 6.0 assists), Jaylen Curry (16.5 points) and Tyler Johnson (10.5 points, 8.0 rebounds) are also in double figures.

Virginia Tech is averaging 92 points on 49.2 percent shooting and the team has made 21 3-pointers in two games. The Hokies are +7.0 on the glass and have 36 assists to 18 turnovers.

Hansberry was named to the ACC’s preseason second team. He led the Hokies, averaging 14.3 points and 7.4 rebounds en route to honorable mention All-ACC honors a season ago. He was also named to the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Top 20 Preseason Watch List.

Mike Young is in his eighth season as the Virginia Tech head coach and has a 126-98 overall record.

Young also has the respect of Ben McCollum.

“I think they’re one of the better coached teams there is,” McCollum said. “I think coach Young is as good as it gets. They’re super disciplined. Defensively, they’ll obviously get after you. They limit a lot of your three-point attempts.

“And then offensively, they run a lot of stuff. They run a lot of sets and they run them well. And so I think with them, you’re going to have to beat them. They’re not going to beat themselves. So you’ve got to find ways to be able to do that, and we’re hopeful that our team is ready to go with that.”

McCollum is in his second season as the Iowa head coach and has coached previously at Drake for one season in 2024-25, leading the Bulldogs to a 31-4 record, and for 14 seasons at Division II Northwest Missouri State where he won four national titles.

McCollum’s debut season as the head Hawk was a memorable one as he led Iowa to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 1987.

McCollum said after the season opener that he really likes his current team’s potential, but he also acknowledged that it has a long ways to go as Iowa moves on without former star point guard Bennett Stirtz.

Having a healthy McKeever in the post would certainly be a step in the right direction.

“It’s not going to be one-hundred percent regardless, and so you’re trying to figure out when the right time is really put him back in and it’s a little bit on him trying to figure out, ‘okay, what can we do to help alleviate some of that pain a little bit and try to figure it out from there.

“So we’re hopeful that he can get back sooner rather than later.”

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Iowa projected starters

11 Kael Combs 6-3 204 4th Year Nixa, Mo. 4.5 2.0 4.0 .400 .000 .833 18.5
35 consecutive starts… career-high 18 points, 5 reb., 7-14 FG at Nebraska in ‘26… 15 pts., 5-7 FG vs. Clemson in NCAAT… Drake & Wyoming transfer.

G 23 Isaia Howard 6-5 216 3rd Year Plattsburg, Mo. 4.5 4.0 0.0 .571 .333 .000 16.7
“Howie”… elite competitiveness… appeared in all 37 games with 5 starts in 2025-26

G 24 Tate Sage 6-7 210 2nd Year Weatherford, Okla. 9.5 3.5 1.0 .429 .222 .714 22.0
First career start vs. Lipscomb… double figures in 8 contests as first-year… scored 19 points with four 3-pointers in Sweet 16 win over Nebraska.

F 3 Cam Manyawu 6-9 255 4th Year Kansas City, Mo. 6.0 3.0 0.5 .625 .000 .400 10.6 74 consecutive starts… double figures in 10 games in ‘25-26… Drake & Wyoming transfer.

F 8 Cooper Koch 6-8 228 3rd Year Peoria, Ill. 7.5 4.0 1.0 .625 .571 .333 28.5; 38 consecutive starts… 3-of-4 from 3-pt. range in opener… made 66 3-pointers last season — second-most on the team

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Virginia Tech (2-0) vs. Iowa (2-0)

When: Tuesday, 6 p.m.

Where: Sioux City, Tyson Events Center

TV: FS1

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Tuesday’s game will be the fifth all-time meeting between Iowa and Virginia Tech. The Hokies lead the series, 4-0. Three of the four games have taken place in Blacksburg and Iowa lost 70-64 in Iowa City in 2009.

Virginia Tech won the most recent game, winning 79-55 in Blacksburg in 2017 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Iowa is 49-52 all-time against current members of the ACC. The Hawkeyes downed Clemson, 67-61, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season in Tampa.

Editor’s note: hawkeyesports.com contributed to this article.