Stallings Offers DC Big Man

Kevin Stallings has a reputation for developing and having success with big men and today he offered a talented one from Washington D.C.

Luka Garza is a 6-11, 230 pound forward from Maret School in Washington D.C and today he heard from the Panthers.

“Coach Richardson called me today after I got home from EYBL session 3”, said Garza. “He talked to me for a while and handed the phone over to Coach Stallings and we had a great conversation which resulted in an offer.”

“Having an offer from Pitt is an honor! It’s a great program, with an amazing coach who had a great program at Vanderbilt as well.”

Garza is a player that’s been getting a lot of attention lately from schools.  In the last week, he picked up offers from Iowa and Northwestern, which go along with ones from Alabama, George Washington, Penn State, St. Joe’s and Louisville.

Garza wasn’t receiving any attention from Pitt’s previous staff but that changed when Stallings was hired.

“Coach Richardson reached out to me after session 2 to let me know Pitt was interested and stuff like that. I didn’t really see it coming but I played well in these last sessions and the offer came”, said Garza.

One of Pitt’s recruiting points to Garza is the staff’s history of developing post players. Vanderbilt 7-foot center Damian Jones is a player that Stallings and his staff were able to develop enough that he left school early for the 2016 NBA Draft.

“Coach talked a lot about what he was able to do with skilled bigs at Vanderbilt and that was very appealing to me.”

Garza is a player skilled big man who plays really hard. He can face up and shoot from the perimeter as well as play with his back to the basket.

Garza has a window in his schedule that’s going to allow him to visit a number of schools.  He recently visited Iowa and tells me that he will be making a trip to Pitt.

“May and June are going to be packed with visits so if I find the right place, I’ll be committed by July. However if I feel like I need to wait to develop relationships more or for another school, I’ll do that”, said Garza.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to see hard work pay off. I put in a ton of work to improve my game, and I’m not done yet!”