Dawson Lee Garcia (born September 20, 2001) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. He previously played for the

Marquette Golden Eagles The Marquette Golden Eagles, formerly known as the Marquette Warriors, Blue and Gold, Gold, Hilltoppers, and Golden Avalanche (football only), are the athletic teams representing Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. They ...

and the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

High school career

Garcia attended

Prior Lake High School Prior Lake High School (PLHS) is located in Savage, Minnesota, United States and enrolls students in grades 912. The school is part of the South Suburban Conference. It has approximately 2,900 students currently enrolled, along with a teaching an ...

Savage, Minnesota Savage is a suburban city south-southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Scott County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city is on the south bank of the Minnesota River in a region commonly called ''South of the River,'' comprising the southern ...

and was coached by Jon Miller. He averaged 8.8 points per game as a freshman followed by 21.4 points per game as a sophomore. Garcia missed 12 games as a junior. As a junior, Garcia averaged 27.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. He helped the team to a school-record 25–4 season and the Minnesota Class 4A, Section 2 championship game. As a senior, he averaged 32 points per game. He was named a

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger ...

. He was also one of the five finalists for the

Minnesota Mr. Basketball Minnesota Mr. Basketball is an annual award recognizing excellence in Minnesota boys' high school basketball. The female equivalent is Minnesota Miss Basketball. The award's legitimacy was challenged in February 2017 when Henry Sibley, Minnesota h ...

award. Garcia surpassed the 2,000 point milestone on February 24, 2020, finishing with 35 points in a 90–76 victory against

Eagan High School Eagan High School (EHS) is a public high school in east-central Eagan, Minnesota, United States. The school opened in fall 1989 for ninth-grade students and for grades ten through twelve the following year. It is particularly noted for its fine a ...

Recruiting

Garcia was considered the No. 32 prospect and No. 2 in Minnesota in the class of 2020 by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

. On November 22, 2019, he committed to playing college basketball for Marquette over offers from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. Garcia chose the Golden Eagles due to his strong relationship with coach

Steve Wojciechowski Steven Michael Wojciechowski (born August 11, 1976), also known as Wojo, is an American basketball coach and former player who was the head coach at Marquette University for seven seasons. He previously played and coached under head coach Mike K ...

and his staff. Wojciechowski began recruiting Garcia in June 2018, and Garcia took an official visit in February 2019. "I felt like part of their family there," Garcia said of his commitment.

College career

In Garcia's college debut on November 26, 2020, he scored 19 points in a 99–57 win against Arkansas–Pine Bluff. On February 10, 2021, he scored a season-high 28 points against Villanova. Garcia averaged 13 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game. After the season, he declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

while maintaining his college eligibility. Concurrently, he entered his name into the NCAA's Transfer Portal. Garcia committed to

on July 8, 2021. He joined fellow transfers

Brady Manek Brady Reece Manek (born September 4, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners and the North Carolina Tar Heels. Ear ...

and Justin McKoy as members of head coach

Hubert Davis Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching career, Davis played for North Carolina from 19 ...

' first Tar Heel team. On January 27, 2022, Garcia took a leave of absence from the team to deal with some family health issues. On February 10, 2022, it was announced that Garcia would miss the rest of the season to be with his family. He averaged nine points and 5.5 rebounds per game in 16 games. Following the season, Garcia entered the transfer portal, citing the family issues of the past year and his desire to be closer to family. On April 18, 2022, Garcia announced that his transfer to

National team career

In 2019, Garcia helped the United States win its first gold medal at the

FIBA 3x3 Under-18 World Cup The FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup is an under-18 basketball tournament run by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) since 2011. The tournament was known as the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships until the 2016 edition. History The event was held f ...

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

, Mongolia. He accumulated 52 points, tying for the most points in the tournament. Garcia was named MVP of the event as well as the 2019 USA Basketball Men's 3x3 U18 National Championship.

Career statistics

College

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2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Marquette , 27 , , 27 , , 29.7 , , .480 , , .356 , , .783 , , 6.6 , , .8 , , .3 , , .5 , , 13.0 , - , style='text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 16 , , 12 , , 20.6 , , .405 , , .375 , , .792 , , 5.5 , , .7 , , .4 , , .3 , , 9.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 43 , , 39 , , 26.3 , , .457 , , .362 , , .786 , , 6.2 , , .7 , , .3 , , .4 , , 11.5

References

External links

Minnesota Golden Gophers bioNorth Carolina Tar Heels bioMarquette Golden Eagles bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Dawson 2001 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Minnesota McDonald's High School All-Americans Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball players North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players People from Burnsville, Minnesota People from Prior Lake, Minnesota Power forwards (basketball)