Iowa’s Luka Garza (left), Michigan’s Juwan Howard named AP men’s player, coach of year.

INDIANAPOLIS — Luka Garza knew what everyone expected before returning for a final run as Iowa’s unquestioned star.

Pressure? Garza felt it, all right, enough to know his mental health required the same attention as his game.

“I needed meditation to lean on, to be able to mainly just go out there and be myself and not worry about anything else,” Garza said.

That best explains why the 6-11, 265-pound senior is The Associated Press men’s college basketball national player of the year after finishing second last season. He was the runaway choice for the award announced Thursday, receiving 50 of 63 votes from AP Top 25 voters.

Ayo Dosunmu, who led Illinois to the Big Ten Tournament title and a No. 1 NCAA seed, was second with six votes, followed by Oklahoma State freshman Cade Cunningham with three. Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert and Baylor’s Jared Butler each earned two votes.

Garza ranked second nationally by averaging 24.1 points with 8.7 rebounds. He improved shooting percentages across the board — including going from 36% on three-pointers last year to 44% — and his assist-to-turnover ratio after working on passing ahead of double- and triple-teams he knew would come all season long.

Garza led the Hawkeyes to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, then accounted for nearly half their points (36 of 80) in a second-round upset loss to Oregon. The native of Washington, D.C., finished as the career scoring leader (2,306) at Iowa, which will retire his No. 55 jersey.

“We may never see another one like him,” Coach Fran McCaffery said.

Michigan Coach Juwan Howard was named The Associated Press men’s college basketball coach of the year on Thursday, receiving 35 of 63 votes from a national media panel. Gonzaga’s Mark Few was second with 16 votes, and Baylor’s Scott Drew and Alabama’s Nate Oats each received five.

Howard, 48, returned to coach his alma mater after John Beilein left for the NBA in 2019.