Wieskamp and Garza selected in the NBA Draft
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- University of Iowa men’s basketball players Joe Wieskamp and Luka Garza were chosen in the 2021 NBA Draft held Thursday evening in Brooklyn, New York. Wieskamp was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 41st overall selection, while Garza was the 52nd overall pick by the Detroit Pistons.
Wieskamp and Garza become the 54th and 55th Iowa men’s basketball players to be selected in an NBA Draft, and the 20th and 21st Hawkeyes to be selected in the top two rounds. The Wieskamp and Garza selections mark the third NBA Draft that multiple Hawkeyes were drafted in the first two rounds (1989 and 1998).
Wieskamp and Garza are the third and fourth Hawkeyes to be drafted under head coach Fran McCaffery. Roy Devyn Marble (Orlando) and Aaron White (Washington) were drafted in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Garza will be reunited with former Hawkeye Tyler Cook (2017-19), an undrafted free agent who played a majority of the 2021 NBA season with the Pistons.
Iowa and Michigan were the only Big Ten programs to have multiple players selected in the draft.
Wieskamp is the highest NBA Draft selection by a Hawkeye since Ricky Davis in 1998 (No. 21 overall). The second-team All-Big Ten honoree was the only Division I player in the country with 400 points, 200 rebounds, 70 3-pointers, and 25 steals in 2021. He ranked second on the team in scoring (14.8) and rebounding (6.6). He ranked fourth in the league in 3-pointers made per game (2.35) and seventh in defensive rebounds per game (5.45). One of five Jerry West Award finalists, Wieskamp led all players in 3-point accuracy, making 49.5 percent of his attempts (51-of-103) in Big Ten play. The native of Muscatine, Iowa, is the first junior in school history with 1,250 points, 550 rebounds, 175 3-pointers, 100 assists, and 75 steals. He made five 3-pointers in six games in 2021, second most of any player from a major conference. Wieskamp finished his three-year Hawkeye career ranked ninth in Iowa career 3-pointers (184) and 24th in scoring (1,283).
Garza was the 2021 consensus national player of the year sweeping the major postseason awards (Wooden, Naismith, Associated Press, Oscar Robertson, NABC, Lute Olson, Sporting News). Last week, Garza was recognized as the Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year. Iowa’s first two-time unanimous consensus first-team All-American led the nation in total points (747), 30-point games (8), field goals made (281), and 20-point games (22). The native of Washington, D.C., owns Iowa’s single-season (747) and all-time (2,306) scoring records. Garza, who graduated in May with a degree in economics, is the only men’s basketball player in Big Ten history to accumulate 2,250 points and 900 rebounds.