Luka Garza Makes History With 2nd Straight National POY Award

Iowa big man Luka Garza has been named National Player Of The Year by Sporting News. Garza is the seventh player in college basketball history to win that award twice. He’s the first to do since Michael Jordan in 1983 and 1984. Garza joins Jordan and other all time greats on that list such as Bill Walton, Bill Bradley, Jerry Lucas, Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Garza is the only player in Iowa Hawkeye history to win the award.

Garza has led the Big Ten in coring for the past two seasons, joining Michigan state’s Steve Smith and Ohio State’s Evan Turner as the only players to accomplish that since 1990. Garza is the leading scorer in program history and the school has announced it will retire his jersey after this season.