Luka Garza sends message to Keegan Murray following Iowa single-season record
Luka Garza has nothing but love for Keegan Murray. After Murray broke the Iowa single-season scoring record — which Garza previously held — Friday in an 84-74 victory against Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament, Garza took to Twitter to congratulate him.
“History,” the Hawkeyes great wrote. “Finish the job.”
Murray poured in 26 points in the win against the Scarlet Knights to propel Iowa to the Big Ten semifinals on Saturday. That brought his season total to 750, narrowly beating out the 747 that Garza scored just one season ago. Thank to his performance, the Hawkeyes are now one of four teams remaining with a chance to take home the conference crown.
It was the second straight game that Murray put on a show after he added another 26 the day prior against Northwestern. The Hawkeyes made 19 3-pointers — a Big Ten Tournament record — and scored 112 points in that win.
Keegan Murray still ranks behind Luka Garza in career points, as the latter still holds that program record with 2,306. However, given that Murray is only a sophomore, he has plenty of time to catch him should he stick around another couple of seasons. Hawkeyes guard Jordan Bohannon, who is in his sixth year with the program, ranks third all-time with 2,008 points. His 11.1 points per game ranks second on the team this season behind Murray’s 23.4.
The Detroit Pistons selected Garza in the second round of the 2021 NBA Draft. He is so far putting up 5.2 points and three rebounds across 11.7 minutes per game in his rookie season.
Regardless of how the Big Ten Tournament ends, Iowa has done enough to earn itself an NCAA Tournament bid for the third consecutive season. The Hawkeyes were listed as a six seed in On3’s Friday bracketology projections, but could certainly move up based on its impressive performance. They will find out where they officially land in the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 6 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS.
Before then, however, they’ll look to become conference champions. Iowa will face No. 9 seed Indiana at 1 p.m. ET Saturday with a trip to the Big Ten title game on the line.