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Garza named CBS Preseason first-team All-America

Luka Garza

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa senior men’s basketball standout Luka Garza has been named a preseason first-team All-American by CBS Sports.

Garza (6-foot-11, 265 pounds) was the National College Basketball Player of the Year by six national outlets and the Big Ten Conference’s Player of the Year last season. A unanimous consensus first-team All-America selection, Garza became the first Iowa men’s basketball student-athlete to earn National Player of the Year distinction. The center was also named the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year, USBWA District VI Player of the Year, and Big Ten Men’s Basketball Player of the Year.

Garza is the top returning scorer and rebounder from a major conference. He averaged 23.9 points and 9.8 rebounds in 31 games in 2019-20. Garza enters his senior season with 1,559 points, 660 rebounds, 104 blocked shots, 99, assists, 47 steals and 20 double-doubles. He ranks 10th in Iowa career blocked shots and double-doubles, and 12th in scoring. Garza is 558 points from surpassing Roy Marble as the school’s all-time leading scorer.

The Washington, D.C., native had an historic season in 2019-2020, finishing the 20-game conference schedule averaging 26.2 points per game. He became the first player to average at least 26 points in Big Ten play since Purdue’s Glenn Robinson in 1994 and first true center since Minnesota’s Tom Kondla (28.3 ppg) in 1967.

Garza scored a school-record 740 points in 2019-2020, breaking the program’s 50-year old record previously set by John Johnson in 1970. Garza scored 20 points or more in a school-record 16 straight Big Ten games, the longest streak by any player in the Big Ten since Ohio State’s Dennis Hopson (16) in 1987.

Last season, Garza ranked second nationally in 20-point games (25); third in total field goals made (287), fifth in scoring (23.9), 19th in double-doubles (15), and 34th in rebounding (9.8). He produced against top competition all season, averaging 26.7 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in 12 contests against AP ranked opponents, including recording 11 straight 20-point performances.

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