Garza Wins Newell Award As Nation's Top Big Man
Iowa center Luka Garza won the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year Award, given to the country’s top post player.
The announcement was made by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) on Monday.
The award is named after Newell, a former coach who ran the Pete Newell Big Man Camp for low-post players from 1976 until his death in 2008.
Garza is the first Hawkeye to win the award and the fifth Big Ten player to earn the honor.
The award continued a postseason full of honors for Garza, a 6-foot-11 junior who led the Big Ten in scoring.
Garza was a consensus first-team All-American, joining Murray Wier (1948) and Charles Darling (1952) as the only Hawkeyes to win consensus first-team honors.
Five major news outlets 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.
Garza is also a finalist for the Naismith Trophy, Wooden Award, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.
Garza, the Big Ten player of the year and the United States Basketball Writers Association District VI player of the year, had 740 points and 305 rebounds this season, one of three Big Ten players to have 740 or more points and 300 or more rebounds, joining Purdue's Glenn Robinson (1994) and Joe Barry Carroll (1979).
Garza averaged 26.2 points in Big Ten play, the most since Robinson in 1994. He averaged 26.7 points and 11.1 rebounds in 12 games against teams ranked in the Associated Press poll, including 11 consecutive games of 20 or more points.
He finished the season with 16 consecutive games of 20 points or more in Big Ten play, the longest streak by a conference player since Ohio State's Dennis Hopson had 16 in 1987.
Garza's 44-point game against Michigan was the highest point total by a Big Ten player this season. His 38-point game against Indiana ranked second.
GARZA HONORS
• Sporting News, Basketball Times, Stadium, Bleacher Report, and ESPN National Player of the Year
• Dick Vitale, Seth Davis, Andy Katz’s National Player of the Year
• Unanimous Consensus First-Team All-America
• NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year
• Big Ten Men's Basketball Player of the Year
• USBWA District VI Player of the Year
• Naismith Trophy, Wooden Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Lute Olson Award, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year finalist
