IOWA CITY – Iowa dominated Western Illinois Thursday night in a non-conference game behind All-American Luka Garza’s 23rd career double-double and 35 points.
Garza big night included 10 rebounds and two blocks. Garza tallied his 20th point with 6:30 remaining in the first half. Garza has posted 20 points or more 19 consecutive games, dating back to last season. That ties N.C. State’s T.J. Warren (2013-14) for the longest streak by a major conference player over the last 20 seasons.
Iowa led 48-26 at halftime. A 22-2 run by Iowa in the second half sealed the win.
Luka Garza outscored Western Illinois by himself in the first stanza tonight, 30-26. Garza surpassed Matt Gatens for eighth place on Iowa’s all-time scoring chart in the first half. Garza has scored 30 points or more in the first half in each of Iowa’s last two contests.
Luka Garza, who scored his 100th point in his third game of the season, is averaging 27.3 points in the first half of Iowa’s first three games.
Jack Nunge played in his first game of the season following the unexpected passing of his father and tied a career high with 18 points.
Iowa recorded scoring runs of 18-2 spanning 3:51 in the first half and 22-2 spanning 4:27 in the second half.
Jordan Bohannon dished out five assists tonight surpassing B.J. Armstrong for fifth in Iowa career assists.
Iowa opened its season with 97+ points in each of its first three games for the first time since 1997-98.
Iowa has won 16 of its last 17 games inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, dating back to last season.
Iowa improved to 10-0 all-time against Western Illinois.
Iowa (3-0) returns to action Tuesday against nationally-ranked North Carolina (3-1) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
