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LOS ANGELES — University of Iowa junior center Luka Garza was named to the John R. Wooden Award mid-season Top 25. The announcement was made Wednesday evening by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Chosen by a poll of national college basketball experts based on their performances during the first half of the 2019-20 season, the list comprises of 25 student-athletes who are front-runners for one of the sport’s most prestigious honor. The announcement comes one day after Garza was named one of 30 finalists for the Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award.
Garza is one of six Big Ten student-athletes and one of five players to make their debut on the Wooden Watch List after not being named on the Preseason Top 50.
Garza (6-foot-11, 260 pounds) is the only player in the country averaging better than 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. The Big Ten scoring leader ranks eighth in the country in points per game (22.1), seventh double-doubles (9) and 13th in rebounds per game (10.7). The native Washington, D.C., has totaled 331 so far this season, the most by a Hawkeye after the first 15 games of a season since Fred Brown’s 422 in 1970-71.
Garza, who leads the Hawkeyes in 10 statistical categories this season, became the 27th player in program history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds after snagging a career-best 18 rebounds in Tuesday’s contest at Nebraska. He is one of only five Big Ten student-athletes since the 2010-11 season to register multiple 30-point/10-rebounds games in the same season.
Garza and the Iowa Hawkeyes return to action on Friday versus No. 12/14 Maryland. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:01 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tickets are available for purchase at hawkeyesports.com/tickets.
