Garza Named Candidate For Senior CLASS Award

Garza Named Candidate For Senior CLASS Award

Credit Source: University of Iowa Athletics

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa men’s basketball senior All-American Luka Garza is one of 30 NCAA men’s basketball student-athletes to be selected as candidates for the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate basketball.

 

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

 

To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character, and competition.

The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2021 NCAA Men’s Final Four.

 

Garza (6-foot-11, 265 pounds) has been the most dominant player in college basketball in 2020-21. Garza leads the country in points per game (25.5), player efficiency rating (39.91), 30-point games (6), and field goals made (180). He ranks 13th nationally in double-doubles (8) and ninth in free throws made (97).

 

Garza reached 2,000 points in 113 games, faster than any other Big Ten player over the last 25 years. He is the only men’s basketball player in Big Ten history to accumulate 2,000 points, 800 rebounds, 125 blocked shots, and 100 3-pointers and he is the only player from a major conference with those numbers dating back to the 1992-93 season. Garza is the only Hawkeye in school history to amass four 400-point seasons and he is 16 points from his second 500-point season.

 

The native of Washington, D.C., is Iowa’s all-time leading scorer in Big Ten regular season games and is 72 points from surpassing Roy Marble as the program’s all-time leading scorer.

 

Garza is on the Wooden Award Late-Season Top 20, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award Top 10, Lute Olson Award Mid-Season Top 35, and Naismith Player of the Year Award watch lists. Last season, Garza was recognized as the National Player of the Year by six national media outlets, the Pete Newell Big Man and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year, Big Ten Player of the Year, and District VI Player of the Year.

 

Garza and the nationally-ranked Hawkeyes (13-6, 7-6) host No. 25 Rutgers (11-6, 7-6) on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.