It took Luka Garza to be the adult in the Iowa locker room following the Hawkeyes’ 79-57 loss at Michigan.
While Hawkeyes’ head coach Fran McCaffery gave three-word answers to questions when asked why his team was “dysfunctional” offensively with only four assists on 21 field goals (“it wasn’t dysfunction,” he said without elaborating), senior center Garza took responsibility for his 6-for-19 shooting.
RELATED: Michigan Basketball Handles Iowa, 79-57, Behind Big Second Half
At the same time, he didn’t exactly credit his friend, Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson, for his role, though anyone who watched could tell it was tough for Garza to get clean looks he usually does with his array of moves.
“I was missing shots I normally make all the time, bare lay-ups,” Garza said. “I think some guys were missing jump shots we normally make. We just let that affect our defense, and then we just couldn’t keep up with them.
“I know I’ve got to be better for my team. I felt like I got the shots I wanted. Definitely, at the beginning, there was some pressure on them, but throughout the course of the game I was getting the shots I wanted. I was working for position and I was able to create some good shots, but they were just rolling out on me.
“For some reason, there was just a lid on the rim tonight.”
Dickinson wasn’t alone in holding Garza in check. U-M made a run with the frosh on the bench in the second half, fifth-year senior Austin Davis and junior Brandon Johns doing a great job fronting and denying Garza in the post.
Both Dickinson and Davis finished with three fouls, but they battled on every possession.
“There were a couple possessions where they played pretty good defense and changed my shot, but for the most part, when you look back at it, there were some missed, wide-open lay-ups,” Garza said. “Obviously, there’s always a contest when I’m catching the ball, but those are shots I normally make — easy shots for me, shots I practice all the time.
“There was no shot out there felt like I couldn’t make. It was tough. I want to be good for my team in a game like this … I couldn’t finish, something that rarely happens to me, but every once in a while. Tonight was just one of those nights where I couldn’t make a shot.”
To his credit, Garza did call the Wolverines a “really good team.” When McCaffery was asked again what Michigan did defensively to slow his team, he simply blew it off again.
“That question’s been asked and answered,” he said.
It hadn’t, but it didn’t matter. It was just as effective an answer as his team had for Michigan’s defense in a 22-point blowout loss.
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our daily newsletter and breaking news alerts
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
