Garza Named ESPN, Stadium Player of the Year

Iowa center also is a Naismith finalist.

Iowa center Luka Garza was named the men's basketball player of the year by ESPN and Stadium on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-11 junior also was named a first-team All-American by both outlets.

Garza was also named one of five finalists for the Naismith award, given to the top player in college basketball.

Joining Garza as Naismith finalists were Dayton’s Obi Toppin, Udoka Azbuike of Kansas, Seton Hall’s Myles Powell, and Oregon’s Payton Pritchard.

Last week, Sporting News selected Garza its National Player of the Year and a first-team All-American. Garza is the first player in Iowa history to earn national player of the year distinction. He was also voted the USBWA District VI Player of the Year and the Big Ten men’s basketball player of the year.

Garza, with 740 points and 305 rebounds, is one of three Big Ten players to ever to total 740 or more points and 300 or more rebounds in a single-season, joining Purdue’s Glenn Robinson in 1994 and Purdue’s Joe Barry Carroll in 1979. He ranked second nationally with 12 20-point/10-rebound games and 25 20-point games. He was third in total field goals made (287) and points per 40 minutes played (29.8), fifth in scoring (23.9), 10th in 30-point games (5), 19th in double-doubles (15) and offensive rebounds per game (3.58), and 34th in rebounding (9.8).

Garza's 15 double-doubles are third most in a single-season by a Hawkeye in three decades and the most since Reggie Evans had 18 in 2002. Garza averaged 26.7 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in 12 games against teams ranked in the Associated Press poll, including 11 consecutive 20-point performances.

Garza finished the 20-game conference schedule averaging 26.2 points per game, becoming the first player to average at least 26 points in Big Ten play since Robinson's 31.1 points per game in 1994. Garza broke the program's 50-year old scoring record previously set by John Johnson in 1970. He scored 20 points or more in a school-record 16 straight Big Ten games, the longest streak by any player in the Big Ten since Ohio State's Dennis Hopson 16 in 1987.

The list of awards for Garza so far:

• Naismith Trophy finalist

• Sporting News National Player of the Year

• Bleacher Report National Player of the Year

• Seth Davis of The Athletic's National Player of the Year

• Sporting News First-Team All-America

• CBS Sports First-Team All-America

• NBC Sports First-Team All-America

• USA Today First-Team All-America

• Big Ten Men's Basketball Player of the Year

• USBWA District VI Player of the Year

• Wooden Award National Ballot

• Oscar Robertson Player of the Year Trophy Semifinalist

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award Finalist• Lute Olson Award Top 30