AP FILE PHOTO - Iowa center Luka Garza celebrates during the second half of a Big Ten Conference basketball game against Ohio State on Feb. 20 in Iowa City.

Iowa’s Luka Garza came so close to winning college basketball’s most prestigious individual honors. Now, the junior center has decided to test the NBA waters and take his game to the next level.

On Twitter and through a teleconference Friday morning, Garza announced that he was declaring for the NBA Draft and going through the process without an agent — which allows him to retain his eligibility for the Hawkeyes if he were to withdraw from the draft process or go undrafted.

Garza said it would take a concrete opportunity for him to leave.

“I definitely think just a real opportunity with a team that needs me, similar to what coach (Fran McCaffery) told me in the recruiting process is the type of player I am and honestly just a real opportunity. … I want to hear the improvements I need to make to be able to be ready for that step after my senior year,” Garza said.

“I’m looking for a lot out of this process and I’m really looking forward to it, but like I said it would have to be a real opportunity.

“The first time I talked to coach McCaffery after this season, we went throughout the season and talked about it and talked about what he saw from me as a leader, as a player, and then before I even said anything him recommending to me that I should put my name in and go through this process; coach wants what’s best for me and that’s why I came to this school and it’s been evident that he was the coach for me since I made that decision and even before then, he was very excited for me, he wanted me to put my name in this process, he understood my mindset going through it and I think we were really on the same page so I was just always really excited for it.”

Garza averaged 23.9 points, 9.8 rebounds and shot 54.2 percent from the floor in 2019-20 while being named Big Ten Player of the Year for the Hawkeyes. The 6-foot-11, 260-pound center is listed as the No. 81 draft prospect for the 2020 NBA Draft from ESPN.