Luka Garza Believes He Is Not the Greatest Iowa Hawkeyes Player of All-Time

Published 03/08/2021, 1:34 PM EST

Follow Us

via Imago

From the start of the season, Iowa Hawkeyes’ Luka Garza has proved he is the best player in the country. Multiple times. His phenomenal feats have made the Hawkeyes one of the top teams. All of this would convince anyone he is the best player the university has seen.

However, Garza himself believes he isn’t the best player the Hawkeyes have produced. He is currently the all-time leading scorer in Hawkeyes history (men) but believes he is still short of one player. According to David Eickholt, Garza feels former Hawkeyes star Megan Gustafson is the best player in college history among both men and women.

USA Today via Reuters

Despite having an accolade-filled career so far, Garza is humble to admit Gustafson is better. That shows his class, and also the culture that the Hawkeyes have developed among their players.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Looking back at Megan Gustafson’s outstanding Iowa Hawkeyes career

Gustafson joined the Hawkeyes back in 2015 and slotted in at the center position. In her first season, she scored 373 points and was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. She had announced her arrival and got a bigger role in her sophomore season.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

After getting a start in each of their 34 games, Gustafson repaid the faith shown in her by the coaches. She almost doubled her production, scoring 621 points. Her field goal percentage improved as well, going from 55% to 65%. Her efforts were recognized by coaches and the media, after she was named first team All-Big Ten.

Gustafson continued her improvement and went on a record-breaking junior year. She won a multitude of awards, and the country was in awe of her performances. She had her career-best performance of 48 points, which came against Minnesota. Although she still fell short in the Naismith Trophy race, it was a fantastic season.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Few would have thought that there was going to be further improvement, but Gustafson raised her performances through the roof in her final season at Iowa. She had a massive 1023 point season, which came at an insane 70% FG. As the awards tumbled, she finally got her hands on a deserved Naismith Trophy.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Gustafson left Iowa in 2019, and along with 16 school records, she left as the greatest player the university had seen.

WATCH: Luka Garza Introduced In Iowa Hawkeyes Home Arena For The Final Time in NCAA Career

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Aaron Mathew

1,689Articles

One take at a time

Aaron Mathew is a sports analyst at EssentiallySports. A graduate in Mass Media from Xavier’s College, Aaron has been a part of EssentiallySports since May 2020 where he covers both NBA and NCAA basketball news, and has also covered NBA 2K. In the past, Aaron has worked at the Sports Desk of Mumbai Mirror.
Show More>