As a 17-year-old competing as an amateur in the Israeli Women Basketball Premier League, Lior Garzon offered a glimpse of the collegiate star to come.
The CU graduate student, who transferred to Boulder after two years apiece at Villanova and Oklahoma State, played that winter for Maccabi Ra’anana. She averaged double-digit scoring and was named the league’s rookie of the year, a performance that followed Garzon leading Israel to the bronze medal in the FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship.
“Once she had a few games in that professional league with double-digit points, playing next to top-level players, and she was already dominant, I already understood then that she was a special talent,” recalled her national team coach, Roie Levin.
“Her rebounding, her size, her shooting ability separated her. … And once you saw that she dominated her age so easily and then played well against adults, it was also easy to see her future was bright.”
Garzon is a key cog on a rebuilt CU team that features 10 new players after the Buffs lost multiple contributors from last season’s Sweet 16 squad. As one of eight international players on the roster, she is also the first known Israeli student-athlete at CU, according to the university.
But as she and her sister, Indiana junior Yarden Garzon, compete on the collegiate stage, the Israel-Hamas war rages in their homeland on the other side of the world.
The conflict began with the surprise massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and it is never far from the Garzon sisters’ minds in Boulder and Bloomington.
They text and call each other daily with their family back in their hometown of Ra’anana, located about 50 miles north of the Palestinian border in Gaza City. Lior says her family uses a bomb shelter at their home on a weekly basis. Both considered ending their college careers and returning home but collectively decided to remain in the U.S.
“I was torn between chasing my goals, and going home and just figuring it out from there,” Lior said. “But I had a lot of conversations with my parents, and with their support and reaffirmation that they have my back to keep playing, that helped me to decide to stay for another year (and go to CU).”
Yarden said the sisters believe playing basketball is “the best thing we can do for our country right now.”
“We want people to notice what we are going through, what Israel is about, and put it on the big stage,” Yarden said. “… If we went home we would feel better, we could know exactly what’s going on and we could be with our family. But I feel like we are doing something valuable for our country here. This is our place right now and this is where we are supposed to be.”
Their commitment comes amid polarizing attitudes about the war throughout the U.S.
While Israel’s received billions of dollars in aid and military support from the United States since the war began, pro-Palestinian protests have surfaced at campuses across the country, including at Oklahoma State, CU and Indiana.
The demonstrators have called for the U.S. to end its support of Israel and for universities to divest from the country, which they say has committed genocide on the Palestinian people through its invasion of Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry’s latest estimates say 46,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict.
Last year at OSU, Lior wrote a message in Hebrew on her shoes for games that translated to “Our people will live forever.” But eventually, she stopped writing on her shoes, and hasn’t done so yet at CU because she felt her message was being misconstrued.
“I stopped that because it gets too deep, and people would take it the wrong way,” Garzon said. “… I didn’t really get (direct flack), but I kind of got the feeling like, ‘You need to stop it.’ And that there wasn’t really support of this.”
As she navigates that, Garzon’s found comfort in her religion. She attends a synagogue in Denver and also goes to a Jewish house in Boulder to stay in touch with her faith.
While Garzon deals with the emotions of being so far from her family during a time of war, she’s also in the middle of a season that is critical to her next basketball goal of playing professionally, whether in the WNBA, Europe or her home country.
“The potential is there for her to be very good, and be one of the best in Israeli players in the upcoming 10 years,” Levin said. “But it’s about decision-making, about finding the right chance, and making the most of this last season at CU (to springboard her).”
Lior’s arrival in Boulder came after she had her American breakout at Villanova and then continued to establish herself at Oklahoma State, where she started all 30 games last season while averaging 9.0 points.
All of which is why CU, which had previously recruited Garzon, made it a priority to sign the 6-foot-1 sharpshooter for her final collegiate season.
“We’ve known her for years, and have always known she was a great player, so when she went into the transfer portal it was a no-brainer to try and get her,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “She was looking for a new opportunity and a place where she could have a big impact, and with us losing so many players, this was a great place for her to have that impact.”
Entering the weekend, Garzon is second on the Buffs in minutes played behind guard Frida Formann. She’s also third in scoring (11.3 points), is averaging 3.1 rebounds, and is second behind Formann in made 3s with 24 while shooting 31% from behind the arc.
Garzon, who has appeared in all 15 games with 13 starts, gives the Buffs (11-4, 2-2 Big 12) versatility in addition to statistical production. She’s played every position but center, including point guard for a stretch last month when Kindyll Wetta and Kennedy Sanders were both sidelined with concussions.
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“She’s one of those positionless players,” small forward Sara-Rose Smith said. “She can fill whatever role we need her to fill, and she has, and that’s been really important as this team with so many new pieces is finding its identity. And her play has opened up opportunities for others, especially Frida on the perimeter.”
Garzon’s 3-point prowess was a main factor in Payne wanting her in Boulder alongside Formann, CU’s career 3-point leader who is also in her final season of eligibility. Together, the duo are critical to the Buffs finding a rhythm in their first season back in the tough Big 12.
“She’s a talented scorer who can find a bucket for us when we need it, and we’re going to need her to continue to come through in those clutch moments for us,” Formann said. “She leads with how competitive she is. When something’s not going her way, or when the team isn’t doing what they need to do in practice, she can take matters into her own hands and get everyone to lock in and get on her level.”
While Garzon leads by example for the Buffs, in her personal life, she’s learning to separate her views on the war with the environment that she’s currently in.
Garzon said the pro-Palestine protests she’s seen on campus, both in Stillwater and in Boulder, upset her and caused her to alter her walking route on campus. But she also says she’s “trying to leave all the politics and war outside of the court.”
“Everybody has a different opinion, and I don’t want that to affect our team in any form or shape,” Garzon said.
Colorado’s Lior Garzon, right, shoots over Northern Colorado’s Silvia Nativi, left, at the CU Events Center in Boulder on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
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