If so, he’s confident his team will be in the thick of the hunt.“I told him not to let emotion or ego take over. He’ll keep looking at the bucket and first he’s going to score. He is concentrating now. His focus is on winning a Big Ten championship and getting the Hawkeyes back to the NCAA Tournament, where they were bounced in the second round a year ago.Frank Garza said the family’s goal is even higher, one that hints at what Luka’s NBA decision will be later this year.“We came here to win a national championship,” Frank said. He got four stitches. He used to raise peacocks, and ostriches, when he lived in northern California. Garza is in line to be the next.Settles called Garza the most impactful Hawkeye since Andre Woolridge in 1997. ^ Goldwein, Eric (February 25, 2016). Iowa's Luka Garza (55) reacts after scoring against Texas Tech during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019, … — Iowa basketball star Luka Garza isn't the only member of his family whose national profile has been rising. “One of my focuses going into the offseason was to be mentally ready.”____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Garza has scored in double digits in all but one game this season. He scored 33 points. He spent his entire childhood there. The evenings were spent on defense and rebounding. His mother, Sejla Garza, played professionally in Europe. Of course he did.Now Garza is bringing that phrase to a T-shirt, with 55% of the proceeds earmarked for secondary schools in Iowa and 45% to the "Elevate" youth sports program in the Washington, D.C., area, where Luka played as a youngster. I’m expecting we’re on that path.”Settles would like to see Garza return to Iowa and take a shot at becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. In the rematch in Iowa City this month, Garza drew 12 fouls.

Then in his next four games, he scored a total of 16 points.“I can’t let that stuff get to me,” Garza said this season after he started getting national acclaim. He’s a Hawkeye. Alibegovic is the all-time leading scorer for the Slovenian national team and a longtime star on that continent. On the court and among peers, the 6-foot-11 Luka Garzais easy to spot. Iowa's Luka Garza (55) shoots as Northwestern's Ryan Young (15) defends during the first half Tuesday in Evanston, Ill. Garza scored 27 points in Iowa's 75-62 win. “There’s a message there. The Hawkeyes heard the news just before they were about to leave their hotel in Indianapolis for their opening game in the Big Ten Conference Tournament.That put an end to one of the most remarkable seasons in Iowa basketball history. Follow Eric Goldwein (Share your feedback by emailing the author. "I'm really trying to take a piece from everyone in my family," Garza said. — Luka Garza pushed himself so hard last summer that no one can push him around this winter. Teoman Alibegovic was a 6-9 center who averaged 18.1 points per game in his final season at Oregon State in 1990-91 before a 13-year pro career in Europe. Garza was aiming much higher. “Being able to have a low base and to hold that low base. His mother, Sejla, is a native of Bosnia and Luka has traveled overseas frequently.The family believes Luka would have a support system over there, and that a basketball season is more likely to be played in Europe, where the coronavirus has been better controlled. I play hard if I’m in the YMCA, if I’m in L.A. “He kind of took that role on at the end of last spring and the summer … keeping everyone calm out there.”Entering the season, expectations were low for the Hawkeyes, who were picked to finish eighth in the Big Ten in a media poll. He got buzz for that. But Garza’s decision comes with risk, and his father said the family is well aware of it. They can be punching him in the face.

It’s what you see is what you get.”Garza visits Maret whenever he’s back home, Levinson said. Everybody cries to the ref. This, as you might expect, is … From his father, he wants to emulate the shooting and work ethic; from his mother, the defensive intensity; from his grandfather, the efficiency and sky-hooks; and from his uncle, the power, physicality and off-the-court habits – staying fit, eating right – that helped him have a long professional career in Europe. It was not an easy path.“In the beginning, he struggled,” said Lynn Levinson, who taught Garza ninth-grade history and was his academic adviser for 10th through 12th grade. Iowa led the Big Ten in scoring last year at 77.7 points per game and would almost certainly exceed that.Garza already ranks 12th on Iowa’s all-time scoring list with 1,559 points and would be poised to overtake Roy Marble’s 2,116 if a full season is played. Garza’s name does not appear in either round. His father, Frank, has become a ubiquitous part of every Hawkeye TV broadcast. Denis is hoping to play college ball in America.“He didn’t have a chance to be whiny in that house,” Teoman Alibegovic said of his nephew. "That's interesting," he said when it was brought up. Plus, Frank Garza said, the contract would be for only one year, meaning his son could return to America to pursue any NBA opportunities at age 22 if he chooses. University of Iowa Athletics.