While football season is in full swing, it doesn’t mean we can’t dabble in some basketball prep ahead of the first tip-off on November 3rd! Next up is third year forward, Joey Matteoni!
Joey Matteoni enters his third collegiate season after initially committing to Northwest Missouri State and following Ben McCollum to Drake. He’s been a deep bench player for the Hawkeyes, with 11 games played in last season.
Functionally, he is Iowa’s victory cigar. He came on for six minutes in four of Iowa’s biggest
blowouts. Against Bucknell, he went 2/2 to notch a season-high 4 points.
Digging wayyy back into his high school tape out of Overland Park, KS, he showed some blocking ability and could stretch the floor with a three pointer. He was a part of a state championship team in 2023 for Blue Valley Northwest.
It is very easy to see how this skillset translates at the D-II level for an elite Northwest Missouri State program. Time in the program and knowledge in the system which may result in a very productive career statistically. However, the athleticism just doesn’t look to be there to see meaningful minutes at the Big Ten level.
Yet there are multiple ways to be productive. By coming over with McCollum last season, he helped establish a culture which resulted in Iowa’s first Elite 8 in 39 seasons. He is going against Cooper Koch & Cam Manyawu every day in practice and making them better. If he wasn’t bringing it every day, he’d probably find somewhere else to hoop. That’s the type of loyalty we’ve seen McCollum instill in his athletes.
With three years left in his college career, he very well may take off. Knowledge of the system can go a long way for Ben McCollum and can enable roles increasing over time.
