AP FILE PHOTO - Iowa’s Tyler Cook dunks during the second half of a college basketball game against the Illinois in the second round of the Big Ten Conference tournament Thursday in Chicago.

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa men’s basketball junior Tyler Cook announced on Friday his intentions to hire an agent and enter the 2019 NBA Draft.

“After weighing my options both last year and now, my family and I, along with the help of my coaches, have decided to enter the 2019 NBA Draft and higher an agent,” Cook said. “This has been my lifelong dream. I am excited and ready to take on the challenge of making these dreams come to fruition.”

In his third season with the Hawkeyes, Cook was a second-team All-Big Ten Conference selection by the media and earned all-district accolades by the NABC and USBWA. He led the team in both scoring (14.5 points per game) and rebounding (7.6) while ranking fifth in Big Ten in free throws attempted per game (6.12), eighth in rebounding, 12th in scoring, and 13th in field goal percentage (.528).

Cook is one of nine players in Iowa history to total more than 1,300 points and 600 rebounds in his career. He posted a team-best six double-doubles this past season and is one of 15 players in Hawkeye history to record at least 15 career double-doubles.

“We fully support Tyler’s decision to pursue his professional goals,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “It has been an honor to coach Tyler the past three years and watch him develop both as a player and person. We are thankful for Tyler’s significant contributions that he has made to our basketball program. My staff and I look forward to supporting Tyler in the next steps of his journey.”

“These past three years have been arguably the most important of my life,” Cook said. “Going through what we did as a team allowed me to learn more than I can put into words. This year my teammates and coaches challenged each other to simply be better, and we did that.”

The NBA Draft will be held on June 20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.