Garza Placed On Wooden Award Final Ballot
Iowa junior center Luka Garza is on the final ballot for the John R. Wooden Award.
Garza was among 15 players on the ballot, which will choose the winner as well as the five members of the Wooden All-American Team.
Garza is also a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, semifinalist for the Oscar Robertson Trophy and Naismith Trophy, and on the Lute Olson Award Midseason List.
Garza is among the national leaders in several categories.
•First with 12 20-point/10-rebound performances
• Second in field goals made (275) and 20-point games (24)
• Third in points per 40 minutes played (29.9)
• Fifth in scoring (23.7)
• Ninth in 30-point games (5)
• 17th in double-doubles (15) and offensive rebounds per game (3.7).
His 15 double-doubles are third most in a single-season by a Hawkeye in three decades and the most since Reggie Evans had 18 in 2002 . Garza is one of two players in the nation, and only player from a major conference, to average better than 23 points and nine rebounds per game.
Garza, who has led the Big Ten in scoring since November, has 712 points this season, becoming Iowa's all-time single-season scoring leader. He has scored 20 points or more in a school-record 15 consecutive Big Ten games, the longest streak by any player in the Big Ten since Purdue’s Glenn Robinson had 15 in 1994.
Garza has scored 25 points or more 12 times this season. He is the only Big Ten player to register seven 25-point/10-rebound performances in the same season in more than 17 years.
Garza is seeking to become Iowa’s first Big Ten player of the year since Sam Williams in 1968. He has the two highest-scoring games in the Big Ten this season — 44 against Michigan and 38 against Indiana.
Voting for the Wooden Award will take place from March 16-23, and voters take into consideration a player’s entire season of play, as well as the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament.
The Wooden Award All-American Team, consisting of the nation’s top five players and the finalists for the Wooden Award, will be announced after the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament and will be the focus of a 30-minute show on April 3 on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m. (CDT).
The presentation of the Wooden Award will be during ESPN's College Basketball Awards on April 10 in Los Angeles. The Wooden Award All-American Team will be honored during the ceremony, and the Wooden Award Legends of Coaching Trophy will be presented to former Iowa head women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer.
