The Murray twins entered the Hadley Club room on the court level of Carver-Hawkeye Arena roughly 20 minutes before a 2 p.m. practice in February. Kris walked in the room, usually a hospitality suite on game days, first. Keegan was right behind him. Calling the Murrays identical twins isn’t a stretch. Luckily, they were donning practice uniforms that prominently displayed Keegan’s No. 15 and Kris’ No. 24 on the back

In street clothes, there’s not much to distinguish which Murray is which.

Right before the Murrays walked in, one of Iowa’s sports information directors admitted he struggled to tell Keegan and Kris apart, too. “You’re Keegan, right,” he recalled asking one of the twins before a press conference. Jeremy Rickertsen, who coached the Murrays at Cedar Rapids Prairie High School, said he would tell the two apart as kids because one wore white basketball shoes and the other wore black. During shootaround before games, if they aren’t yet in uniform, fans may only notice which Murray they are looking at by observing how they shoot. Kris shoots a basketball left-handed. Keegan is a righty.

“I’ve been called Keegan as I’ve been walking downtown more than I’ve been called Kris,” Kris joked when I thanked them for being clearly identifiable in uniform. “There’s not much to tell us apart really besides some small features that you might notice.”

“You just have to go with it, or it’s awkward,” Keegan agreed. “I feel like the older we’ve gotten, the more we’ve looked alike. It’s kind of weird.”

The Murray twins 😍 pic.twitter.com/kYzkW4pGjw

— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) December 19, 2021

Like the students who pass one of the Murrays in Iowa City’s Pedestrian Mall, most college coaches couldn’t tell Keegan and Kris apart either— at least in the sense that they didn’t differentiate their skills and personalities or comprehend why they would want both of them on their team.

Keegan and Kris both played three seasons on varsity at Prairie. As a senior, Keegan averaged 20.5 points and 7.3 rebounds on his way to a Metro Player of the Year honor. Kris wasn’t far behind, dropping 19.5 points a contest and contributing 6.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game as an All-Metro performer. Both players were two-time team captains who spent four years on the honor roll.

But it took a while for Iowa to be interested in the Murrays. Western Illinois was the only Division I program to offer both Keegan and Kris scholarships while they were in high school.

The Murrays remember three Division II offers they could have accepted, and a couple of junior colleges that would have welcomed them. Otherwise, the interest in them — rated as three-star recruits by 247 Sports — was minimal. Kenyon and Rickertsen agree that this was caused by a couple of factors. First, both twins underwent sudden growth spurts in high school. Keegan and Kris were both around 5-foot-11 as freshmen, but gradually sprouted to 6-foot-7 by the time they graduated. They hit the genetic lottery, as their dad likes to joke. By the time they reached that height, some schools had already stopped recruiting them. But what kept others away was the idea that Keegan and Kris would only go to the same school.

“I think a small part of the hesitation of some schools was having the perception that they had to give up two scholarships for essentially the same player,” Rickertsen said. “I think most schools, even though if they asked, we would tell them differently, just assumed they were a package deal.”

The Murrays were willing to split up for the right opportunities. But those opportunities didn’t present themselves.

To improve their recruiting stock and receive offers from bigger programs, Keegan and Kris didn’t go straight to college out of high school. They spent a year playing at DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida, before returning to the Hawkeye State.

Keegan and Kris recalled these recruiting stories while sitting next to each other at a small, square table in the club room. Before taking their first questions, both Murray brothers were asked by a staff member to sign a couple of jerseys. That’s become a popular request of late. Keegan, a semifinalist for the Wooden Award, is the only men’s player in the nation to average 23 or more points, eight or more rebounds, and two or more blocks per game. Kris is Iowa’s leading bench scorer (10.3 points per game) and is top-three on the Hawkeyes in rebounds (4.5) and blocks (1.0) per game, as well as 3-point percentage (40.2 percent).

The twins are both listed at 6-foot-8, 225 pounds with wingspans hovering around the seven-foot range. A handful of minor differences in appearance are the only ways to differentiate them physically. The sides of Keegan’s hair are cut slightly shorter than Kris’, and his facial hair is a tad longer around his chin.

The contrasting elements of their personality are a little more apparent. They’ll say as much.

“I’d probably say Kris is more outgoing, more social, than I am,” Keegan said. “I’m really an introvert and keep to myself a lot. I’m not really into the social atmosphere and things like that. That’s probably the biggest difference, I’d say.”

“He hit it pretty spot on,” Kris responded. “I wouldn’t say that I’m an extrovert. I’m kinda in-between. Right after games, we just go back to our apartment and chill. We don’t do much besides basketball during the season.”

“Once the season starts, all I want to do is basketball,” Keegan said, “get my schoolwork done, and go to sleep.”

“That takes up enough time,” Kris said.

Keegan says he is the better driver, but not without mentioning Kris has hit a trash can while behind the wheel. Kris will take credit for being the better cook. Keegan has a better fashion sense, while Kris is admittedly messier and studies less than his brother. Keegan is more routine-oriented. Kris likes to go with the flow. Their father contends that Keegan is more serious about his appetite and went through a stretch where his diet prohibited sugars. “No this, no that,” Kenyon joked. At the same time, Kris would happily eat Oreos or brownies.

“Keegan would always joke with him that his diet wasn’t going to be something that could keep him going,” Kenyon said. “And Kris would be like, ‘Whatever.’”

As for which twin is funnier, that title is still disputed between the two of them. When our conversation turns to recruiting, they acknowledge that if there was one thing they agreed on, it was that they wanted to play college basketball at the Power Five level.

And, despite few offers in high school, they knew there was a path to doing so.

“Watching them daily and watching their work ethic and how important the game of basketball is to them, I knew they were going to find a way,” Rickertsen said. “You knew they weren’t going to give up on their dream of playing Division I basketball.”

Kenyon sat in the bleachers of Kirkwood Community College’s gym during an Eastern Iowa All-Star Game after Kris and Keegan’s senior season in high school. As the game unfolded, Fran McCaffery — who was there watching his son, Patrick, play — made his way over to inquire about the two players “dominating” the game.

“He’s just like, ‘Hey, what’s the plan?’” Kenyon said. “‘I think they have a chance to play at this level, so what are you going to do?’”

Keegan and Kris had been playing against Patrick, who attended Iowa City West High School, since they were in fourth grade. Patrick still calls them the best fourth-grade basketball players he’s ever seen. The Murray-McCaffery connection has already been established for decades, though. As an assistant coach at Notre Dame in the early 90s, Fran recruited Kenyon. They first interacted at an AAU tournament McCaffery was scouting in Texas. It was clear to the current 12th-year Hawkeye head coach that the first Murray he would recruit was the best player in the gym. Kenyon visited South Bend, but inevitably wanted to play in the Big Ten.

So, he became a Hawkeye.

In four years (1992-96) as a forward at Iowa, Kenyon — a former McDonald’s All-American — started 95 games and averaged 9.9 points per game. Keegan and Kris will tease their dad now, saying they both have already surpassed his career-high of 23 points. Keegan has scored 37 points in a single game. Kris’ best total is 29. Their father isn’t afraid to fire right back.

“I always try to tell them that I was such a good defender that they wouldn’t get 20 on me,” Kenyon said. “I’d make it really hard… I stopped playing them when they were in seventh or eighth grade because I knew they were getting better than me then.

“I finished undefeated.”

The Murray twins’ connection to the Hawkeyes, even as children, was deeper than simply being the kids of a former Iowa men’s basketball player. Kris and Keegan were both born on Aug. 19, 2000. Kris was born first and, as a tribute, named after Chris Street, one of Kenyon’s former Iowa teammates who died in an auto collision in 1993. Kenyon said he never directly heard it from Keegan or Kris as they grew up, but both imagined playing at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. They dreamed of being Hawkeyes, of wearing the same uniform their father did. Kris wanted to play in the venue where his namesake is honored.

“We were trying to get a scholarship somewhere,” Kris said. “We honestly didn’t think it would be in the Big Ten or at Iowa. Iowa was definitely a dream school growing up and I’m grateful that I’m here right now.”

To realize their dream, the Murrays had to take an indirect path to Iowa City.

Kenyon and McCaffery chatted in the Kirkwood stands as their sons ran up and down the court. McCaffery likes to say he practically watched the Murrays grow up. He accepted Iowa’s head coaching job in 2010. Kenyon went to McCaffery’s introductory press conference. With Patrick, Kris, and Keegan all in the same grade, the families ran into each other in gyms all over the state over the years. Patrick, who has always been tall, was surprised in high school when he suddenly had to start looking eye-to-eye with the Murrays. By the All-Star Game, Kenyon said McCaffery — because of his busy schedule — hadn’t seen his sons play live in a little over a year. But what he saw on Kirkwood’s court was enough.

“I said, ‘Hey, we’re going to be interested in both of them,’” McCaffery said.

At the time, Iowa only had one available scholarship. But the Hawkeyes wanted both twins. McCaffery recommended a year at prep school, saying it would be a “game-changer.” The Murrays were already ahead of him. They were headed to DME. The idea was for Keegan and Kris to gain weight to their taller, longer frames and receive a boost in confidence while going against superior talent than what they faced in high school.

“The skillset was already there,” Kenyon said. “It was just a matter of putting the other pieces together.”

Keegan and Kris both gained about 25 pounds during their year in Florida, all while playing against other elite prep, Division II, and junior college programs. After the first weekend recruiting showcase DME held, Kenyon said Keegan and Kris received about 40 calls from schools interested in recruiting them. But Iowa had spent the last several months intensifying its recruiting with the Murrays. The Hawkeyes wanted them on campus that same week for a visit.

After a plane ride to the UI campus, Keegan and Kris had a sort of family reunion. They saw their parents, and were reunited with Patrick and Connor McCaffery, as well as other Iowa players they used to play against. The previous summer, Keegan and Kris played pick-up games with the McCafferys and other Hawkeyes.

“When they first stepped on campus,” former Hawkeye Luka Garza said, “we were playing pick-up games and it was like, ‘Who are these guys?’”

“Our guys were like, ‘These guys are good. We need to get these guys,’” Fran McCaffery added. “Plus, how could you not like those two kids? They fit perfectly, I think.”

McCaffery and Billy Taylor, an assistant coach at Iowa, had just gone down to Florida and offered both Murrays scholarships. Iowa was an appealing destination because of the program’s up-tempo, motion style of offense that allowed stretch-forwards like Keegan and Kris to do a little bit of everything on the court. In his second year, Keegan regularly rebounds a missed shot, dribbles up the court like a guard, and then defends the paint like a center on the next possession.

There was no hesitation in bringing both Murray twins to Iowa City. Mostly, McCaffery said, that was because he viewed them as Keegan and Kris, not an identical pair.

“Fran viewed them as individuals as opposed to, ‘The twins,’” Kenyon added. “They’ve always been known as that. But we’ve always talked about how Kris is Kris and Keegan is Keegan. That’s how we look at it.”

Beyond continuing their family’s Hawkeye legacy, the Murrays wanted to play at Iowa so their parents could make a half-hour drive and watch them play (although, despite the proximity, Keegan and Kris still regularly FaceTime their mother at night to catch up). They would play for a coach that saw their similarities, but knew Keegan and Kris had different personalities on and off the floor — a coach who wasn’t worried about bringing in the Murrays as a “package deal.” Keegan and Kris both committed to Iowa on Oct. 21, 2019. Iowa’s coaching staff high-fived each other after the Murray family’s visit ended.

Committed!🐤#GoHawks pic.twitter.com/FXQwezYzRP

— Keegan Murray (@keegan3murray) October 21, 2019

Excited to announce my commitment to the University of Iowa! Go Hawks!🐤🐤 pic.twitter.com/iXGbu2SDGF

— Kris Murray (@KrisMurray24) October 21, 2019

The Hawkeyes got who they wanted, both of them, and McCaffery wasn’t caught up in bringing twins onto the same team.

“I wish there were three of them,” McCaffery said.

“Should I do the Memorial Day one?” Keegan Murray asked his brother with a grin.

“Oh yeah,” Kris responded.

The Murrays were just asked something Iowa fans may not know about them. The first story that came to mind was a painful one. Literally. It was over Memorial Day weekend in fifth grade, a weekend that was supposed to be spent competing in neighborhood sporting events. That was disrupted when, during a backyard football game, Keegan landed on his arm and broke both bones in it. The next day, Kris went to play street baseball and was plucked straight in the eye. Keegan and Kris left school for the weekend perfectly healthy, but returned with one of them in a sling and the other with a swollen, closed black eye.

“Our principal was wondering what happened,” Keegan said, holding in a laugh behind a sharp grin. “Our mom is like, ‘I swear, nothing.’”

Their classmates and teachers assumed Keegan and Kris got into a fight. No wonder.

Everything between the twins is a competition. They just assumed that during one of them, a brawl ensued. It didn’t, though. The normally mild-mannered Murrays limit themselves to trash-talk. A lot of it. And during a variety of activities. Who has the better trash talk?

“Kris,” Fran McCaffery said before the question had even been asked completely.

“It’s some explicit language,” Keegan said, prompting laughter from both twins. “It’s usually just to light a fire under the other person to make them compete more. It’s more helpful than him getting down on himself.”

“Yeah, I’d say I’m more vocal if I’m trash talking someone, but Keegan will just kind of stare you down or something like that,” Kris said, imitating his brother by glaring at him.”

“I can [trash talk] if I want to,” Keegan said.

“People might think we’re fighting,” Kris said. “But it’s really just our way of communicating with each other that we respond to.”

After Iowa’s home win over Michigan State in February, Keegan described flexing in celebration after an and-one. Kris, sitting next to him at the press conference, chimed in that it was “his only celebration,” drawing laughs.

The trash talk isn’t limited to each other. Kenyon and the twins’ mother, Michelle — who was a four-sport athlete at Anamosa High School and golfed at Mount Mercy — aren’t exempt from it. Neither is Mckenna, their 16-year-old sister, or Demetrius Harper, their older brother who the Murrays adopted in 2012. The Murrays are avid board and card-game players. Bouts of Cards Against Humanity with the family gathered during holidays or long weekends can turn slightly hostile.

“It can get a little testy,” Kenyon said. “There are a few words that I’d rather not hear them say at the table. They’re just ultra-competitive at everything. And they pull their little sister in there too. She’s like, ‘I want to be the first Murray to graduate with a 4.0.’”

“They do everything together,” Fran McCaffery said of the twins. “They sit together. They’re so close. And you can tell they love each other so much. But they constantly give each other a hard time. And the players just are hysterical laughing about it, the stuff they say to each other. It’s a funny thing to watch. But nobody else better say anything about one of them with the other one around, I’ll tell you that.”

Hawkeye fans have had a chance to see this fiery spirit up close this season.

After Nebraska scored against Iowa inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena earlier this season, Keegan and Kris yelled at each other as they ran to the other side of the court, prompting their mother to yell, “Stop fighting.” The Murray twins know their mother’s voice from the crowd. It’s hard for them to miss. These are the types of interactions Keegan and Kris regularly have with each other during team meals and at practice, but with both players receiving significant minutes this season, it’s showing up in front of thousands of fans, too.

Kris was mostly limited to sitting on the bench as a freshman. Iowa was loaded with wings and had a roster that featured two current NBA players: Garza and Joe Wieskamp. Kenyon was under the impression the elder twin was going to redshirt, but he received limited minutes here and there, instead.

Keegan, though, played right away. Between injuries to CJ Fredrick and Jack Nunge throughout the season, as well as Keegan demonstrating his ability to rebound and defend even as a freshman, No. 15 cracked the starting lineup at times and made the Big Ten All-Freshman team during his first season as a Hawkeye.

Both Murrays knew they were going to take on larger roles coming into the 2021-22 campaign — particularly Keegan. They had to. Iowa lost Garza, a two-time national player of the year and the program’s all-time leading scorer, and three other players with starting experience from last season’s team. McCaffery approached Keegan last summer and told him he was “the guy” for the Hawkeyes. That meant he’d be one of the team’s leaders, but also its star.

That role has fit Keegan nicely.

The Big Ten announced on Tuesday that Keegan was unanimously named first-team All-Big Ten, making him the first Hawkeye to earn that honor as a sophomore since Ronnie Lester in 1978. Keegan is only 50 points shy of breaking Garza’s single-season scoring record at Iowa (747 points) and leads Power Five players in points per game while shooting 55.4 percent from the floor and 38 percent from 3-point range.

Infographic by Kelsey Harrell/The Daily Iowan

“He’s unbelievable,” said Tom Izzo, Michigan State’s head coach and the all-time leader in wins at a Big Ten program. “He’s as good as any player I’ve seen in this league in a while. Keegan is a special talent. They’ve got a star. He is a star, don’t kid yourself.

“[Iowa’s] got something special. Enjoy him.”

Coming into the season, the Murray twins were regularly found on an open court somewhere between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. They played one-on-one. And not the basement version.

Kris chimes in first to say the one-on-one games are usually pretty even. One brother will win a stretch of games, then the other will, he said. Keegan agrees and smiles.

If he thinks differently, he’s not saying so.

“If you’re looking for offense, those aren’t very fun to watch,” Kris said. “We both know each other’s moves really well. You have to really be creative in what you’re doing to score on the other person, and I think that has helped a lot in these past couple offseasons.”

Keegan’s emergence has led an Iowa team that was picked to finish ninth in the Big Ten in the preseason by ESPN to a 22-win season and an upcoming postseason appearance.

Both twins knew they were going to see significant playing time this season. They liked that. Playing at the same time is comfortable for them. But there was still plenty to improve on in the offseason. Keegan wanted to better his shot-creating ability coming into the season — to make moves off the dribble and be all-around more versatile on offense. Mission accomplished. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg has called Keegan the “most versatile player in the Big Ten.” Kris wanted to use their one-on-one games to his own advantage. He wanted a more-consistent jump-shot to improve his efficiency from deep. Kris is leading Iowa with a 40.2 percent 3-point conversion rate this season.

That’s somewhat surprising to Rickertsen. Keegan was the better shooter in high school, he said, and now that’s Kris’ strength. Kris was always the superior inside presence, but that’s where Keegan thrives now. Keegan had a better sophomore year in high school, then Kris was better as a junior. As far as Rickertsen is concerned, Kris could be an All-Big Ten player next year, too.

“They’ve kind of fed off of each other,” he said. “One of their strengths, the other one tried to match it, and vice versa.”

Gallery • 14 Photos

Jerod Ringwald

Iowa forward Keegan Murray walks out to the court while being introduced in the starting lineup during a men’s basketball game between Iowa and Penn State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry told reporters following the game that Keegan Murray will have a long career in the NBA for however long Murray wants to play. “Now that I’m coaching in this league, I hope his long career starts next year,” Shrewsberry said. The Hawkeyes defeated the Nittany Lions, 68-51.

When the twins arrived in Iowa City, they often were tasked with matching up with Garza in practice. They had the bruises and scratches to prove it. But more importantly, they got to see how a two-time consensus All-American worked every day.

As a sophomore, Keegan is having a similar impact.

“When I first got here in the summer, I was going against him every day in practice,” freshman Payton Sandfort said after Keegan scored 37 points against Nebraska on Feb. 14. “I would go home, and I would call my dad and I’d be like, ‘This dude is kicking my butt. I don’t know if I’m built for this.’ I started getting a little better playing against him. And then I see him out here and he’s doing a lot worse than he did to me. That makes me feel a lot better.”

Keegan and Kris are used to playing basketball on camera. But at the start of the New Year, they did so under slightly different circumstances.

The twins stood on the court of the empty main West Liberty High School gym. Their scripts had been memorized. Estela’s Fresh Mix in Iowa City was filming an advertisement. The premise was based on a Michael Jordan-Larry Bird McDonald’s commercial from the 90s, where both future Hall of Famers played a game of H-O-R-S-E.

A Fresh take on a classic commercial 📺

Keep It Fresh 🔥 @keegan3murray @KrisMurray24 @PHawkKenyon pic.twitter.com/n6fhgQpFnR

— Estela’s Fresh Mex (@EstelasFreshMex) February 13, 2022

“What’s up, Keegan?” Kris asked as the cameras started rolling. “Whatcha got in the bag?”

“An Estela’s burrito, chips, and queso,” Keegan responded.

“I’ll play you for it,” Kris said.

Trick shots followed. Some with eyes closed, others behind the back. Keynon made a cameo at the end of the commercial. He said Michelle and Mckenna need to be in an upcoming Part II. Kris joked that the filming crew was really good at editing. The twins attempted several of the trick shots. Keegan claimed to hit the rim once. Kris was never even close. Between the commercial and their own merchandise line, Keegan and Kris are taking advantage of their name, image, and likeness rights.

The Murrays always wanted to make a living by being around the game of basketball. Kris, who majors in journalism and mass communication, idolized Paul Pierce and the rest of the Boston Celtics’ “Big 3.” He grew up wanting to do something in sports — coach games, commentate them, or play if he was good enough. Kenyon remembers Keegan, a sport and recreation management major, sending Facebook messages to his friends in fifth grade that he would one day play in the NBA.

That day is quickly approaching.

Sports Illustrated ranks Keegan as the No. 6 overall prospect in the 2022 NBA Draft. Bleacher Report’s latest mock projects Keegan going fifth overall, while NBC Sports predicts him being selected at No. 8.

“If you ask Kris anything, he doesn’t care where Keegan is being projected, because he will say that he can beat him one-on-one,” Kenyon said. “I think if you ask each one of them who’s better, they’ll probably say themselves. But I think that’s pretty cool, because they always push each other and try to make each other better.”

Infographic by Kelsey Harrell/The Daily Iowan

The Iowa men’s basketball program hasn’t had a top-10 draft pick since Lester in 1980. Fran McCaffery knows that’s likely to change. He’s called Keegan a lottery pick, which equates to being a top-14 draft pick, on several occasions this season.

McCaffery sees a little bit of Daren Queenan, who scored 2,703 points in college, in Keegan’s game. There’s a tad of Troy Murphy, a first-round pick out of Notre Dame who played 12 years in the NBA, too. Current Phoenix Suns coach and former Notre Dame player Monty Williams has some similar traits as well. McCaffery sees a little bit of all the great players he’s coached show up in Keegan’s game.

“I remember [former No. 5 overall pick] LaPhonso Ellis was texting me about him,” McCaffery said. “And I said, ‘You know, he reminds me of you because he’s really humble off the court, but he’s kind of an assassin off of it.’

“And he said, ‘Yeah, but I couldn’t shoot it like him.’”

The interview with Keegan and Kris ended just after the allotted time ran out. They couldn’t be late for practice. Both twins thanked me for my time and exited the room. By the time I shoved my notebook into my backpack and made my way into the hall, Keegan and Kris were already shooting on the Carver court.

They were the first players there.

Keegan may have played his last game on that floor. He hasn’t made any decision regarding the NBA, but the family knows he’s considering leaving. That wasn’t important at the moment.

When Keegan and Kris were young, Kenyon and Michelle would hear them mumble to each other in their own little language over the baby monitor. Their faraway conversation somewhat resembled that. The twins were in their own space.  The Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments are all that remain in the 2021-22 season. The Murray twins may only be playing together for a couple more games. But that’s not important, either.

Keegan and Kris are locked into their shots — ready to chirp an insult if the other one misses.

“They’re playing together, they’re at their dream school,” Kenyon said. “Whatever happens in the future, happens. We want them to enjoy what’s happening right now.”

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