Former Utah Center Keba Keita Announces Commitment To BYU
May 8, 2024, 3:11 PM | Updated: May 9, 2024, 3:01 pm
PROVO, Utah – Former Utah Utes center Keba Keita is continuing his college career 45 miles south at BYU.
Keita, who was on an official visit to BYU’s campus this week, announced his commitment to the Cougars, who are now led by first-year head coach Kevin Young. The commitment was moments later made official by BYU as he signed to join the program for the 2024-25 season.
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His commitment to BYU comes one week after former Utah assistant coach Chris Burgess accepted a position as an assistant at BYU. Burgess worked closely with Keita for the past two years up on the hill.
The 6-foot-8, 231-pound Keita adds another center to BYU’s roster, joining veteran and fellow Mali native Fousseyni Traore.
Keita picked BYU over reported interest from the Texas Longhorns and other Power Five programs. He will have two years of eligibility remaining in his college career.
Keita was primarily a sixth man for the Utes last season. He earned his first career start after Lawson Lovering was injured in January and put together an 18-point, 15-rebound, three-block performance against Oregon State.
Keita started in 13 consecutive games for a Utah team that reached the NIT Semifinals.
Following a career-high 23 points against Southern Utah, Keita scored 10 points off the bench in a Utah victory over BYU last December in the Huntsman Center.
One of Keita’s strengths is his shot-blocking ability with his long wingspan. On the offensive end, he has displayed a soft touch around the rim through two seasons at Utah, shooting 61% from the field.
Keita finished his sophomore campaign with averages of 8.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game.
Those numbers were all increases from his freshman season at Utah.
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Keba Keita joins the BYU basketball program
Keita was a three-star recruit in the 247Sports Composite ratings for the class of 2022 coming out of Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant. BYU communicated with Keita during his high school recruitment but never offered him a scholarship.
He played AAU ball for the Mountain Stars here in Utah.
Some of his reported offers out of high school included Washington and UNLV.
Growing up in Mali, Keita initially began playing volleyball as his sport of choice before later taking to the sport of basketball.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
