Folks, we cannot take Luka for granted. He was awesome. The 3 pointers and some tough inside buckets when it looked like Rutgers might pull away. His defense was very solid, 4 blocks and a shat-ton of rebounds. Shout out.
Garza
- Thread starter BirdistheWord
- Start date
I believe Toussaint had 5 straight points at a critical juncture when the Hawks were down 6-7 points and needed a spark. I'm giving Joe T. the game ball because even though Garza probably deserves it, he already has a garage full.
Garza is bringing it every game and having the best player in nation on your team is a big head start to winning. This was so-so shooting game for Fredrick, but JoeT showed up big time and JoeW also was good. I think this team is better than the Uthoff-Jok led team because there are more scoring options and Luka's post game is difficult for defenses to take away.
Generational player for Iowa. He's starting to make 28 and 10 look routine. Keep that up for the rest of the season and the debate won't be whether he's player of the year material, but it'll be whether or not he's having the best season of any college player of the last decade. I've always wondered what it felt like to be a Duke fan or some other frontrunning team. Thanks to Luka we're kinda finding that out.
All I require is Garza's game make a similar jump from this year to next year. Just kidding (but can you imagine, ha).
Yeah, with his consistency it seems Iowa has the edge coming out of the locker room. Nice luxury.
Yeah, with his consistency it seems Iowa has the edge coming out of the locker room. Nice luxury.
I like that he is so confident. He doesnt even hesitate on the 15-18 foot jumpers and just nails them at a rate similar to a guard. He is a very special player.
Last night was a slightly better than average game for Garza in conference.
28 pts is exactly his average
13 rbs is 2.5 over his average
4 blks is 2.4 over his average
2 steals is more than 1 over his average
That stat line being slight above average in conference games only is insane.
28 pts is exactly his average
13 rbs is 2.5 over his average
4 blks is 2.4 over his average
2 steals is more than 1 over his average
That stat line being slight above average in conference games only is insane.
You are correct, that is insane and people should realize what they're seeing. Pikiel was right Rutgers did do a good job of defending him and making it difficult to get the ball and he still went for 28 and 13, making 10-17 shots. That is a career night for most guys and that's his conference average over 8 games.
When you have a player that good, if you get just a few other guys to come along with you every game and everyone plays hard and unselfishly, you are very hard to beat. Last night it was Toussaint, Wieskamp and Kriener. Frederick had been insanely good in conference play (62% on 3-pointers going into last night), he missed some open shots going 2-7 and still made huge plays late.
Love that his game got even better when we hit conference play, how often is that the case??
I am not missing a second of Iowa basketball as long as Garza is on this team. He is must watch and I'm going to enjoy every second we get of him in an Iowa jersey.
They should not have an offensive trip without the ball touching Garza hands. One thing Luka touched on after game with Bardo is his lack of fouling all season. Keeping the guy on the court is key.
Katz said it last night, but I’ve thought the same. He’s made the jump Kaminsky did at Wisconsin mid career. Nobody saw either coming like this.
Garza is having a Megan Gustafson type season. Perhaps her NPOY win inspired him in the off season to think, "hey, I can do that too!"
I noticed how we struggled toward the end of the game last night on offense. In the last 5 minutes I'm not sure Garza touched the ball once in the half court. That, the problems inbounding the ball, and Pemsl's +/- of -13 in only 11 minutes of play are my only complaints from last night. Otherwise we did pretty dang good against a good team at home. I fully expect we would lose that game if it was played in NJ last night.
I admittedly don't follow BB as closely, but it struck me too that Garza has made a MAJOR leap this year and not one that I think a lot of people foresaw. How often does that happen?
Good for him though, he is playing like a beast, yet he doesn't hog the ball and it seems like he is remaining pretty down to earth. I like to see that, I hope he just keeps getting better too! In addition to his down low power game, when he swishes those 3 pointers he has to be driving opposing teams nuts!
He is doing what Woolridge did in 95-96. that is the best way I can describe him.
He amazes me with WHERE he has the ball sometimes, like underneath the basket, multiple defenders, and he finds ways to score, and NEVER dunking (almost never). Incredible.
He scored 28 and I don’t believe had a point during the last ten minutes of the game. A quiet 28. Crazy.
Calm down....it's only the Big Ten**
**The best and most competitive conference in the entire NCAA, with likely 10 tourney spots this year
I made a comment on this last year in a MG thread; her success was putting the ball up fast, none of the extra dribbles to gather herself - catch and shoot before the doubleteam shows up. She was a master at the two ball Mikan drills, and I mentioned if the men's team can match that capability, they'd be just as tough to stop.
No idea what Garza did, but his court and body awareness relative to the hoop, wherever he is in the paint and whatever angle his body is at - he's now just able to score from any position. The 10-15 ft jumper means guys cannot just sag off of him - he's open, he shoots it and makes it. Same with the 3s. I'm not sure I've ever seen a player at Iowa who has the versatile skillset to score from literally anywhere on the court.
Hopefully, the other underclassmen and post players are learning from his work ethic and formula here.
I'd throw a shoutout to Kriener here, too. He's got a solid mini-hook in the paint and long reach to get over the defense. He's not to Garza's level, but he's a very high quality forward who's been in the shadows most of his career (Cook, now Garza), and his contributions are woefully under-represented.
He's gonna be missed next year.
He's gonna be missed next year.
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