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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa Student-Athletes Academic Services (SAAS) announced Wednesday Kathleen Doyle (women’s basketball) and Luka Garza (men’s basketball) have been named January’s Student-Athletes of the month.
Doyle, a native of LaGrange Park, Illinois, was named the Naismith Women’s Player of the Week, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on Jan. 14, following her performances against No. 12 Indiana (Jan. 12) and No. 16 Maryland (Jan. 9). Against the Hoosiers, Doyle challenged for a triple-double in the Hawkeyes’ double-overtime win (91-85), posting 31 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds. In Iowa’s win over Maryland, Doyle registered 21 points, three rebounds, and two assists, leading the Hawkeyes to their third consecutive win over the Terrapins. Doyle averaged 26 points, six rebounds, and six assists in the pair of upset wins over the Hoosiers and Terrapins. She is leading the Big Ten in assists (131), free throws made (110), and assists per game (6.2). Nationally, Doyle ranks fifth, seventh, and eighth in these categories, respectively. She ranks second in the conference for free throw attempts (137) and free-throw percentage (80.3), ranking 13th and 90th, nationally. Doyle is among the top of the league in total point (397), ranking third, and ranks 18th nationally. To close out January, Doyle recorded six 20-point games, including four consecutively.
The women’s basketball team travels to the University of Maryland on Feb. 13. The game will air on BTN at 5 pm (CT).
Garza, a native of Washington, D.C, averaged 25.1 points, 11 rebounds, and 2.1 blocked shots in eight games during the month of January, helping then nationally-ranked Hawkeyes to a 5-3 record. Garza led the team in scoring in six of the eight games. In January, Garza was named a first-team All-American by the Sporting News and named to the Wooden Award Top 25 and Luke Olson Award Top 30 (both awards recognize the nation’s best player in college basketball. Garza and the Hawkeyes beat three ranked opponents in January (No. 12 Maryland, No. 19 Michigan, and No. 24 Rutgers) and finished the month of January scoring 20+ points in six straight contests. He was named Big Ten Player of the Week (Jan. 20) and ESPN Jay Bilas’ National Player of the Week (Jan. 21) after averaging 30 points and five rebounds in wins over Northwestern and No. 19 Michigan. Garza is one of only two players nationally to average better than 23 points and 10 rebounds per game. He is first in the Big Ten in scoring (23.0 ppg) and double-doubles (12), and second in rebounding (10.4 rpg) and is one of three centers in the nation shooting 37 percent or better from 3-point range (min. 50 attempts). Averaging 28.3 points and 9.9 rebounds in seven games against AP Top-25 teams this season, Garza is the only player from a Power Five conference player, and one of two players nationally, averaging 20+ points & 10+ rebounds.
The men’s basketball team plays Thursday at Indiana. Tip-off is set for 7:07 p.m. (CT) and will air on BTN.
