McKeever’s 7′3″ frame made Iowa the ‘obvious choice’ in the transfer portal

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Andrew McKeever is hard to miss at an Iowa practice. The St. Mary’s transfer and center stands 7 feet, 3 inches tall and averaged 8.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last season.

‘Nothing like I’ve seen in practice’

Teammates have taken notice of McKeever’s size. Forward Trey Thompson said the center’s hands alone drew a reaction.

“Yeah, he’s big. That’s for sure. I saw him looking at his phone and it looked like a tiny, little iPod in his hand. I was like, ‘Geez, man,’” Thompson said.

Forward Joey Matteoni said McKeever’s presence in the paint stands apart from what he has seen in recent seasons.

“He controls the paint for sure and nothing like I’ve seen in practice the last couple of years. No offense to Cam (Manyawu), but I mean 7′3” is just different,” Matteoni said.

McKeever on why Iowa made sense

McKeever said the decision to transfer to Iowa was straightforward.

“It was a pretty obvious choice for me,” McKeever said. “Their team was so good last year, making an Elite 8 run. I was maybe a key piece that they needed with a little bit more size, even though their bigs were good, but they just didn’t have the height as some of the other teams did in the Big Ten. So I figured I could help in that way.”

From baseball to basketball

McKeever was not always a basketball player. He stood around 6 feet, 2 inches early in high school before a significant growth spurt changed his trajectory.

“I was like 6′2” during COVID and then I grew to 6′10″ when I was out of COVID. I was playing baseball at the time, and I was like, yeah, I got to go to basketball. I locked in during my sophomore season,” McKeever said.

His high school coach pushed him to make the switch permanent.

“My high school coach who I had been with growing up said, ‘You need to stop playing baseball and just focus on basketball.’ That’s kind of when it flipped the switch for me,” McKeever said.

Adjusting to his own size

Even after committing to basketball, McKeever said adapting to his own frame took time.

“Maybe a little uncoordinated and slow for my size. But I kind of worked on it a lot when I was at St. Mary’s and I got better at it,” McKeever said.

McKeever now joins Iowa’s program under head coach Ben McCollum.