Analyzing Luka Garza's Improved 3-Point Shot

Luka Garza took (and made) considerably more 3-pointers as a junior than in his sophomore and freshman seasons.

On Tuesday, Iowa basketball star Luka Garza appeared on Jeff Godman’s Good N’ Plenty podcast, and the pair discussed a wide range of topics, stemming from Garza’s declaring to test NBA waters to the NCAA Tournament.

One thing Goodman brought up, though, was Garza’s outside shooting and how Iowa coach Fran McCaffery has allowed the center to shoot from all over the court.

“He gave me that green light since he was recruiting me,” Garza said on the podcast. “He knew I was a player who could do it both ways, be inside and out. Last year, as a sophomore, I kind of struggled from the 3-point line. Going into this year, I worked really, really hard on my jump shot, especially with the extension of the line.”

That hard work is evident both in his father’s social media posts and in his 3-point percentage.

More specifically this offseason, Frank Garza has given Hawkeye basketball fans an inside look at his son’s training routine. Aside from contact layup drills, Frank Garza posted videos of Luka Garza working on his range from beyond the 3-point line.

And that’s just the work Luka Garza and his father are putting in on their own time, not to mention the work he and the rest of his teammate practice with the program in a closed setting.

Looking at the numbers, one obvious area to see 3-point shooting growth comes in shooting percentage. In 2019-20 as a junior. Garza canned 35.8% of his triples this season, more than a 6% increase from his sophomore season (29.2%), but he thought that number could have gone up.

“I think if we had that last leg of the season, my percentage would have went up a little bit,” Garza said on Goodman’s podcast.

Had Garza and his teammates had a few more games to play, there’s a solid chance we could’ve seen his 3-point stroke on display. For his percentage to go up, even slightly, he would have needed a lights-out campaign from deep during the postseason. It’s something he’s showed before.

In essentially a month’s span between Jan. 14 and Feb. 13, Garza drained 45% of his 3-point attempts (18-for-40), a mark that stands 10% above his season average. In terms of volume (4.4 3-pointers attempted per game over that span), it was essentially his best work in a Hawkeye uniform.

“I’m a guy who’s always been confident in his outside shot and always will be,” Garza said on the podcast. “That’s just a part of the game that’s always going to be improving for me. I’m going to continue to (have) more confidence to shoot more 3’s as my career goes on.”

That confidence never disappeared for Garza, and that's a good thing for Iowa. In a year where the Hawkeyes saw limited action from sharpshooter Jordan Bohannon and a decline in shooting percentage from Joe Wieskamp, Garza stepped up as one of the team's consistent threats from deep.

He saw his 3-point attempts spike as a junior, putting up 3.5 shots from deep per game. That number climbed steadily in each season with the program, improving from 2.3 attempts per game as a sophomore and 1.4 as a freshman.

Granted, Garza took more shots from all over the floor during his junior campaign, and rightfully so. He was Iowa’s best player on the floor, thus leading the Hawkeyes with 23.9 points per game on an average of 17.1 field goal attempts. He led the team with a 33.4 usage percentage, according to Basketball Reference.

Garza attempted three or more 3-pointers in 23 of Iowa’s games this past season, which is a career-high mark. He attempted four or more in 14 games and five or more in six. As a sophomore, he tallied 12 games with three or more attempts from deep. As a freshman, that number stood at just five.

But it was conference play where Garza excelled the most. He made 28 3-pointers against Big Ten teams this season, more than the total amount of 3-pointers he attempted as a freshman.

Against Big Ten opponents, Garza knocked down 33.7% of his attempts from deep. While he shot better from deep against non-conference opponents (42%), his percentage against Big Ten teams – in other words, tougher competition – went up from his sophomore season by more than 12%.

“I felt a lot more comfortable this year,” Garza told Goodman. “That’s something I’m going to continue to work on.”