Courtesy of Husker Athletics
Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg announced Monday that Tulsa transfer Jared Garcia has signed with the Nebraska men’s basketball program for the 2025-26 season. Garcia, a 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward from Houston, Texas, spent the last two years at Tulsa, where he played in 48 games for the Golden Hurricane. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
“Jared is a physical presence who can score inside and also step out to 3-point range,” Hoiberg said. “He gives us size and athleticism in the frontcourt and provides us with more versatility. He started every game at Tulsa two years ago and was one of the conference leaders in blocked shots and rebounding while shooting nearly 33 percent from 3-point range. He missed the first half of last season recovering from an injury but returned in January without missing a beat, setting career bests in scoring and field goal percentage.”
Last year, Garcia missed Tulsa’s first 16 games of the season after an injury but returned to the lineup in mid-January and averaged 9.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in 17 contests. He reached double figures in nine of his 17 games off the bench, highlighted by a season-high 22 points, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range, in 21 minutes against Wichita State and 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in a win over Temple in the AAC Tournament. He grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds in 19 minutes against Rice, one of five games with at least five caroms on the year.
Garcia started all 31 games in his first season at Tulsa, averaging 9.4 points and a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game. He was sixth in the AAC with 1.4 blocks per game and was 14th in the conference in rebounding. He also showed his ability to step out to 3-point range, shooting 33 percent from beyond the arc while averaging more than one 3-pointer per game. He totaled 12 double-figure efforts, including a career-high 24 points and five boards against Charlotte. In that game, he went 10-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range. He grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds against both Central Arkansas and UAB, as he had eight or more rebounds on nine occasions. He also tallied 13 points, eight rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots at Rice.
He spent a season at Salt Lake Community College, where he averaged 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while helping SLCC to a 29-5 record and a berth in the national tournament. He shot 56 percent from the field, 43 percent from 3-point range and 87 percent from the foul line. He posted season-highs of 25 points and six 3-pointers against Snow College.
Garcia began his career at Charlotte, where he spent two seasons with the 49ers and was a teammate with All-Big Ten guard Brice Williams. He played in 19 games as a sophomore, including a season-high nine points against Arkansas as he battled a knee injury for part of the season. He appeared in 21 games as a true freshman in 2020-21, averaging 3.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. His best performance came against Marshall, when he had 14 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double.
He played at St. Thomas More School in Connecticut, where he was ranked No. 15 in the New England Top 100 for the Class of 2020 by the New England Recruiting Report. He totaled 1,276 points and 656 rebounds in his prep career. Garcia was a second-team All-New England Prep School Athletic Conference selection in each of his final two seasons, averaging 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game. He played AAU basketball for the New York Jayhawks where he helped his team reach the semifinals of the Adidas Summer Championships in 2019.
