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Historic start: Luka Garza’s first 3 games are the most productive since Steph Curry over a decade ago

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Try to digest this really quick: In Iowa’s first three games of the 2020-21 college basketball season, Luka Garza has scored 102 points. That’s correct, in just 120 minutes of hoops, Garza has hit a triple-digit point total on the year.

I guess you could say that’s pretty good.

Garza was spectacular once again on Thursday night, scoring 35 points on 13-of-21 shooting and grabbing 10 rebounds in the Hawkeyes’ 99-58 victory over Western Illinois. He played just 25 minutes for the game.

The crazy thing? That’s not even Garza’s highest point total of the year. Garza scored 41 points and made 14-of-15 shot attempts from the floor while collecting 9 boards in Iowa’s 103-76 win over Southern.

Garza’s “worst” performance of the year was still a 26-point outing with 10 rebounds and making 11-of-14 shots in Iowa’s 97-67 season-opening victory over NC Central. As Larry David would say, that’s “pretty, pretty, pretty good.”

The 102-point start to the season puts Garza in elite company. He’s the first player since Steph Curry scored 106 points for Davidson in 2008-09 to hit the century mark in the points column through the first three games of the season.

Elite company, for sure.

Garza could’ve gone to the NBA Draft following last season but elected to come back to put on the Iowa jersey one last time. So far, that decision is really paying off for the Hawkeyes and for their star.

Next up for Iowa is No. 14 North Carolina (3-1) in the B1G-ACC Challenge on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB