Garza earns consensus All-American status, comes in second for AP Player of the Year
The junior is the third Hawkeye in program history to earn the distinction of consensus All-American.
Iowa Center Luka Garzais blocked by Illinois Center Kofi Cockburn during a game against the University of Illinois on Sunday, March, 8, 2020 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. The Hawkeyes lost to the Fighting Illini, 76-78.
March 24, 2020
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced its first-team All-America team on Tuesday, which included Iowa center Luka Garza.
Garza has earned consensus first-team All-America status as a result of being voted to All-American first teams by the NABC, Sporting News, AP, and United States Basketball Writers Association. Garza joins former Hawkeyes Murray Wier (1948) and Charles Darling (1952) as consensus first-team All-Americans.
Garza becomes the first Hawkeye in program history to earn national recognition by the NABC. Ronnie Lester and Jarrod Uthoff were third team honorees in 1979 and 2016, respectively.
The AP Player of the Year was also announced on Tuesday. Garza finished in second place behind Dayton’s Obi Toppin.
Toppin earned 34 of the 64 votes, while Garza received 24. Fellow All-Americans Markus Howard of Marquette, Payton Pritchard of Oregon, and Udoka Azubuike of Kansas split the remaining votes.
With Toppin leading the way, Dayton went 29-2 in the Atlantic 10 and were likely going to be a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Toppin averaged 20 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 63 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line.
Garza, the Big Ten Player of the Year, averaged 23.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocked shots per game this season. He shot 58.9 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from beyond the arc.