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Luka Garza's No. 55 Jersey to Be Retired by Iowa After Historic Hawkeyes Career
March 7, 2021
Luka Garza's career will go down in Iowa history, and his jersey number will, too.
The school announced Sunday—after Garza dropped another double-double in No. 5 Iowa's 77-73 win over No. 25 Wisconsin—that it would retire No. 55.
"I honestly didn't expect that at all," Garza said, per ESPN's Myron Medcalf. "I didn't realize that was a plan or that was going to happen. I was just really happy we won the game. For Coach to tell me that, it was a surreal feeling. Time slowed down, as I heard those words."
Garza became the program's all-time leading scorer at the end of February, as the team embarked on a streak that saw it win seven of its last eight games with the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments looming. With the victory over Wisconsin on Sunday, the team locked up the No. 3 seed heading into the conference tournament.
Entering play Sunday, Garza, who was a consensus first-team All-American last year, was averaging 17.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game on 54.5 percent shooting and 36.5 percent from deep for his career.
In addition to his school-record 2,201 points, Garza leads the program in a number of other categories, including conference scoring (1,399), total field goals made (829), field-goal attempts (1,522) and 40-point games (two). His name also appears on a myriad of other Iowa record lists (h/t KCRG News).
His 642 points this season are the most nationwide.
Eight other Hawkeyes players have had their number retired, including NBA champions Ronnie Lester and B.J. Armstrong.