Tuttle, Singleton lead the way inside for UNI

CEDAR FALLS - Northern Iowa has prided itself for years as being a tough, physical basketball team.

That image was personified in the No. 22 Panthers' 60-46 win against Missouri State at the McLeod Center on Sunday, with UNI outrebounding the Bears (8-10, 2-4 Missouri Valley Conference) by 11 and outscoring them in the paint, 36-8.

The effort was highlighted by the play of Seth Tuttle and Marvin Singleton, who combined for 32 points and 19 rebounds.

'That was obviously a big difference in this game. Marv (Singleton), he's been great in terms of just fighting,” said Coach Ben Jacobson. 'He's been tremendous and tonight he was able to come up with a bunch of (rebounds).

'(Seth) is playing at a high level right now. I don't think there's a lot of question that he's going to touch the ball as often as he possibly can. If we can get it to him deep enough and with an angle, he's going to score it.”

For Singleton, his 10 points don't stand out as much as his nine rebounds - seven of which came at the offensive end.

As much as Jacobson has talked about improving the Panthers' rebounding, it was a welcome sight to win the rebounding edge, 37-26, but even more to grab 18 offensive rebounds - a season high for Missouri State opponents. Jacobson and Tuttle both gave high praise to Singleton for his efforts on the glass, with Tuttle having firsthand experience with how tough it can be to go get rebounds against the 6-foot-6 forward.

'You've got a guy like Marv, who I've had to box out many times - and I don't like it; can't imagine what other guys feel when they're done with the game - he does a lot of things for us,” Tuttle said. 'He got nine rebounds tonight, but he helped probably get seven more for other guys just being in there, tipping the ball around. The guy's an animal inside.”

UNI (16-2, 5-1) had a rare size advantage in the post against Missouri State, and though Jacobson said that wasn't a focus in the game plan, it certainly didn't hurt the Panthers' ability to crash the boards better than they have much of this season.

There was a short stretch where the Bears were able to put together a few offensive rebounds in a row, and while that's still a bit frustrating, Jacobson said it's progress.

'We didn't talk as much about the size, more so how physical the game was going to be. (Missouri State Coach) Paul (Lusk) does a great job with his guys, always getting them to play really hard and really physical,” Jacobson said. 'The stretch to start the second half, they had three or four offensive rebounds to start the second half, that's the worst stretch we've had in three games now. And it seemed like prior to that, there were two or three of those stretches every game. So it's getting better. There's still room there, but it's getting better.”

But it was Tuttle's scoring output in the first half that set the tone for UNI and what it was able to get down low.

The senior had 16 points at halftime before finishing with 22 and 10 rebounds, and seemed to play with an extra boost of energy for getting to the basket that hasn't necessarily been there all season. Many times, he's looked to facilitate first, but against Missouri State - in the first half, at least - it was a different story.

Tuttle considered it business as usual, though maybe with a little twist.

'We didn't really talk about anything other than what we normally talk about. Tonight we ran a couple sets early that got me into a pretty good rhythm,” Tuttle said. 'These guys did a good job finding me and putting me in a great position. It always feels good to hit the first couple, so after that I was pretty much in attack mode, trying to get to the rim. After that they started doubling and I started trying to find the open guy. It wasn't anything different, we just ran some pretty good stuff.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com