Luka Garza does it all for Iowa in win over Wisconsin
By Tyler Devine
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Whether it was offensively, defensively or emotionally, Iowa freshman forward Luka Garza provided the Iowa men’s basketball team with an invaluable spark on Tuesday in its 85-67 victory over Wisconsin that snapped a two game losing streak by the Hawkeyes.
The 6-foot-11 Garza tied sophomore forward Tyler Cook for the team lead with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting and pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds to notch his fourth career double-double and help Iowa improve to 11-11 overall and 2-7 in Big Ten play.
Much of Garza’s impact came on the defensive end in the first half when he was tasked with guarding Wisconsin’s All-American forward and leading scorer Ethan Happ.
Wisconsin went to the 6-foot-10 Happ early and often and Garza helped in forcing Happ to miss his first six shots from the field.
Garza's defensive presence would help Iowa jump out to a 9-0 lead in a game in which it never trailed and lead at halftime for the first time in Big Ten play this season.
"He’s a great player," Garza said. "We watched a lot of film, I want a lot of film individually on him as well as with the coaches. We were just locked in on what we wanted to do. He’s a great player. He’s relentless. That’s what makes him an All-American. He’s a tough cover but I just needed to match his intensity and it worked for me."
Happ would end up with 21 points, but 17 of those came in the second half with Wisconsin trailing my a significant margin.
“I thought Luka was great,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “Happ’s an All-American, Luka’s a freshman, but I think he really studied him this week. He moved his feet, got his hands up, really took advantage of his length and his physicality. He’s a hard guy to score over.
“Happ’s as good as it gets at creating his own angle. Everybody tries to wall him off but he still somehow creates and angle to score because he’s gifted both with his right and his left hand.”
Garza also made his presence felt emotionally, celebrating after big plays and getting the crowd of 11,563 riled up.
Several times throughout the game, Garza pulled down one of his four offensive rebounds and scored, or extended an Iowa possession that led to a score.
Garza’s teammates appeared to feed off of his energy and hustle plays, particularly when Wisconsin was trying to claw its way back into the game in the second half.
“I think over time I’ve started to be more of that kind of emotional leader,” Garza said. “All my teammates support me. I try to just bring as much intensity as I can. I think everybody feeds off that, especially in the second half you could see T.C. (Tyler Cook) was playing with that emotion and everyone was rising to that level.
“I think that’s good for our team when we have multiple guys that play that hard and I think it’s going to help us.”
It’s not unusual for a freshman to plateau or hit a wall at some point, but Garza’s motor doesn’t appear to stop.
“I think it’s who he is,” McCaffery said. “He is a game, a warrior, however you want to describe him. He’s relentless. He’s got an incredible sense of where the ball is going to go. Whether it’s off the rim or if it’s loose. He knows how to get open. He has a really good feel.
“He just keeps coming. He doesn’t take possessions off. A lot of big guys – a lot of young guys – they tire. When they tire, they take possessions off, and he doesn’t do that.”