Garza Named Nation's Top Center
Iowa junior Luka Garza won the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Of The Award on Tuesday, given to the nation's top center.
The announcement was made by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Named after Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the annual award recognizes the top center in Division I men's basketball. Garza is the first Hawkeye to win the award and the third Big Ten player to earn the honor.
“I have looked up to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar my entire life,” Garza said in a statement. “To win an award in his name is a tremendous honor and one that I share with my family. I am incredibly grateful to have the coaching staff, group of teammates, and my family, which put me in position to win this award. Lastly, I’d like to thank the loyal support of Hawkeye Nation!”
Garza earlier won the NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year Award.
“Luka Garza is a very intelligent player and it shows in his efficiency with the ball,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “To have 25 games with 20 points or more is no easy task and it proves the level of effort and focus he sustained throughout the season. Congratulations to Luka on this award and a remarkable junior year.”
"No player in the country was as productive and consistent, against the quality of teams and players in the Big Ten, than Luka Garza in 2020,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “It’s rewarding to watch a young man work and grow the way Luka has and to see the commitment he has to his teammates, to the program, and to his family.”
Five major news outlets have named Garza as its national player of the year — Sporting News,Basketball Times, Stadium, Bleacher Report, and ESPN.
Garza is the first Iowa men’s basketball player to earn national player of the year distinction. He was also a unanimous consensus first-team All-America selection, joining former Hawkeyes Murray Wier (1948) and Charles Darling (1952) as the program’s only consensus first-team All-Americans.
Garza set a school single-season record with 740 points, and had 305 rebounds. He was the Big Ten player of the year as well as the USBWA's District VI player of the year.
Garza averaged 26.2 points per game in Big Ten play, and ended the season with a streak of 16 consecutive games of 20 or more points in conference play, matching the streak of Ohio State's Dennis Hopson in 1987.
