Tuttle guides UNI to second straight win

CEDAR FALLS — Northern Iowa forward Seth Tuttle may have been the team's leading scorer to this point in the season, but on several occasions he's passed — albeit effectively — much more than he's shot.

His coach has mentioned it a few times too, where there certainly wasn't a desire to change his performance level, but was a desire to see Tuttle do the work he's been known to do on the block.

In the No. 23 Panthers' (13-2, 2-1 Missouri Valley Conference) 55-39 win against Southern Illinois on Wednesday night, the senior did just that, leading all scorers with 24 points on 9 of 11 shooting and added eight rebounds — three on offense that were all putback buckets.

'It hasn't been easy going for him. Tonight he was able to get loose a little bit more, and I think that's good,' said UNI Coach Ben Jacobson. 'As much as he's passed the basketball — and that helps our team — there's been some opportunities for him to score and he's still passing the ball. Tonight it was good to see him get some baskets.'

Tuttle had particular success in the low post, which hasn't been a place where he's gotten the ball the majority of times. Many times, within the Panthers' offense, Tuttle receives the ball in the high post to get UNI into its action plays, and can either pass or back his defender down.

Against the Salukis (7-9, 0-3) though, he attacked the SIU bigs with particular effectiveness. He converted three and-one opportunities, and his back-to-back post-move scores that opened the second half sparked UNI to run away from SIU.

He said there's obviously no specific goal headed into a game whether he wants to pass or score, rather lets the game come to him before making those decisions. But he admitted it was nice to have the night he had and convert so many times with more attempts attacking the basket.

Jacobson said the plays they ran to get Tuttle to the block against SIU had seeds in the Loyola game, and that it was an emphasis to exploit his talent inside.

'The last two games we've had more of that than we've had for a stretch,' Jacobson said. 'Any time you can get him an angle, whether it's on the block or you get him an advantage on the catch so he can rip it and drive it from the top of the floor, he's really effective. The execution of guys the last two games to get him running to the basket and get him some of those catches tonight … the other guys put him in pretty good position tonight.'

Tuttle's night was imperative considering the lack of scoring production from UNI's guards, though he did have help from forward Nate Buss, who had 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting (3 of 4 from deep) in just 18 minutes.

Neither team's guards had a single point in the first half, and the first points from a player of that position came with 14 minutes left in the second half on a jumper from Wyatt Lohaus. Deon Mitchell, Matt Bohannon, Jeremy Morgan, Paul Jesperson, Wes Washpun and Lohaus went a combined 3 of 19 from the field and 1 of 9 from 3-point range. Compare that to Tuttle, who went 2 of 3 from deep — the first of which was banked in, prompting a joking grimace as he ran back on defense.

His outside shooting has improved from years past, which is as much a product of confidence in his shot as anything else. That confidence got a boost Wednesday night and guided the Panthers to their second straight MVC win after the conference-opening loss to Evansville.

'I don't think about it. If I'm open, I'm going to shoot; if not, I'm not going to force it,' Tuttle said. 'Tonight, the banked one felt good. The next one felt better. The third one felt the best but it didn't go in. I'll shoot 'em if I'm open, if not I won't force anything.

'(The bucket) was pretty big tonight. It feels good when it is. It was one of those nights for me.'

UNI plays Drake in Des Moines at the Knapp Center on Saturday at 3 p.m.

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