Tuttle’s passing guides UNI past SDSU

CEDAR FALLS - When Northern Iowa men's basketball coach Ben Jacobson recruited Seth Tuttle, he envisioned the 6-foot-8 forward to be a solid big man who rebounded and finished around the rim.

Jacobson did not envision the passer Tuttle has become at all. But there he was, dishing out a career-high nine assists to go with his 11 points and two rebounds in the No. 23/24 Panthers' 74-63 win against South Dakota State in the non-conference finale.

'He was really active (in high school), got a lot of stuff done around the basket, could drive it, you know the stuff he's shown. But did not see as much of the perimeter skills, did not see as much of the passing as he's shown in his time here,” Jacobson said. 'We just saw a really active guy that was going to get a lot of points and rebounds around the basket, be a great teammate. Didn't know he was going to be this good of a passer.”

Tuttle's nine assists were seven more than Wes Washpun and Deon Mitchell's two, which was the next highest for UNI (11-1), and three more than SDSU (9-5) had as a team.

As good as he was Sunday, Jacobson thought he bordered on too generous with the basketball when the Panthers were in their offense. Jacobson said Tuttle has been this way the entire time he's been at UNI, despite what they saw in recruiting, and doesn't want to second guess him now.

'(Tuttle is) slmost too willing of a passer. Very good passer, very good feel, and he knows where guys are at,” Jacobson said. 'He understands when he gets doubled someone's going to be open. And a little bit like a quarterback, he can make his checks and if he sees another defender, he moves to the next guy and the next guy. Not everybody has the ability to do that, especially at the center position. He's been doing that his entire career.

'And I don't want to mess him up, but like I said, at times he's a little too unselfish where he could just score the ball.”

Tuttle, though, doesn't seem to care in the least how many points he has, as long as the ball goes through the hoop on offense. Jacobson said he knows what the Panthers need on offense and is willing to do whatever he needs to accomplish that.

The Sheffield native looked, at times, like a point guard with a few of the assists, but joked Panther fans don't have to worry about him taking Washpun or Mitchell's job anytime soon. As he's done over and over, he dished out his 10th assist when he deflected any praise on his career day passing onto his teammates.

'They run around too much for me (to move to point guard),” Tuttle said through a laugh. 'It's nice to have the number (of assists), but people have to make the shots to get them. I'm happy those guys hit those shots.

'It's just good offense, really. Ball goes in (to the post), ball comes right back out if they're coming down. Tonight they came pretty hard, all in there digging, so I just tried to make the pass to an open guy; not trying to force anything. Those guys were knocking them in tonight.”

Performances like Tuttle's have been spread around the roster throughout the non-conference season, and it's why the Panthers only have one loss.

Many of them have come from the bench, and that trend continued Sunday as well. Nate Buss had a team and season-high 14 points, Washpun had 12 on 5 of 6 shooting from the field and Paul Jesperson had 10 on 4 of 8 shooting. All told, the UNI bench had 45 points, outscoring SDSU's bench by 35.

The bench play on offense combined with the consistently stingy defensive effort has the Panthers confident headed into Missouri Valley Conference play.

'I told them they've done a heck of a job; they've answered the bell every time,” Jacobson said. 'We're a couple possessions short of our record being perfect, but in terms of answering the bell, being ready to play and competing, they've done it every night. They can feel really good about what they've done in November and December, and they deserve to.

'Now that ends and the real season goes. I think the guys are excited.”

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