Northern Iowa’s Seth Tuttle does it all for the Panthers

Two or three times a week, Seth Tuttle visits Tyler Larson’s apartment to beat him in NBA2K on Xbox. Tuttle – with an affinity for LaMarcus Aldridge’s game – likes to play the Portland Trailblazers against Larson, but the teams don’t really matter.

“He’ll never let you win,” Larson said. “He’ll take the worst team and give you the best team and he’ll let you know he’s going to win. He’s just got that skill-set and determination. He’ll give you LeBron and Kevin Durant.”

Tuttle usually brings his lunch.

“We’ll end up cleaning up his mess, as well,” Larson said. “We give him a hard time for that.”

This is how Tuttle treated the Missouri Valley Conference this season, winning and leaving defenses strewn in his path like a crumpled wrapper and empty cup. No. 10 Northern Iowa visits No. 11 Wichita State on Saturday and Tuttle, a 6-foot-8 senior, will be the key figure after he scorched the Shockers for a career-high 29 points in the first meeting, a 70-54 win on Jan. 31.

Tuttle enters the final day of the regular season as the favorite to win MVC Player of the Year after leading the Panthers to their highest national ranking and a certain spot in the NCAA Tournament. He averages 15.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists, leading UNI, and makes 62.7 percent of his shots, best in the Valley and tied for third nationally.

“He’s dynamic,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “He can shoot the three, which he’s doing very, very well. He can put it on the floor. He handles the ball and passes it very well.”

Tuttle went to high school about 60 miles from Cedar Falls, so he followed the 2009 and 2010 Panthers who won MVC titles and played in the NCAA Tournament. The 2010 team advanced to the Sweet 16 with wins over UNLV and top-seeded Kansas. That experience invested him in returning UNI to the top of the MVC and the NCAA Tournament.

The Panthers went to the NIT in 2012, Tuttle’s freshman season, but failed to make the jump until this season. Last season, the Panthers went 16-15, finished third in the MVC, and declined to play in the postseason.

“Once I stepped on campus, that was what was motivating me,” he said. “I saw what could be done. I wanted to experience that with our team and our coaches.”

To get there, UNI coach Ben Jacobson wanted his team to play defense like the 2009 and 2010 Panthers. Last season’s team counted on its scoring skills and let defense slip. This season, the Panthers are again one of the nation’s hardest teams to score against.

“We were pretty soft as a team,” Tuttle said. “We knew going into this year we had to change our ways. I had to look in the mirror. I wasn’t left out of that conversation.”

The Panthers are holding teams to 53.8 points and 38.3 percent shooting, both first in the Valley. Last season, they gave up 69.3 points and opponents shot 44.2 percent.

“It starts with Tuttle,” Jacobson said. “I felt like he could improve from a defensive standpoint in a couple ways. His technique could get better, but more important, I thought his effort could get better.”

Jacobson saw Tuttle’s work ethic and effort improve starting in the summer with workouts. Tuttle knew he needed to talk more on defense and get stronger to gain and hold position in the lane.

“His leadership has grown tremendously,” Jacobson said earlier this month. “It was really good last year. It was good early in the year. He’s taken that to another level, and that’s been really good for our team.”

Tuttle is the rare post player with responsibility for almost everything that happens on the floor. He calls offenses. He organizes the defense. The Panthers play through him because he is a big man with the skills to run an offense like a point guard.

“He’s got an incredible feel for the offense and their team,” Loyola coach Porter Moser said. “You don’t see post players with that kind of feel and command of their team. He’s a coach’s dream.”

Jordan Nelson, Tuttle’s coach at West Fork High in Sheffield, Iowa, started watching him play in fifth grade and coached him as a sophomore. Tuttle faced frequent double-teams, which sharpened his passing skills.

“He’s made some passes I’ve never seen post players make,” said Nelson, now coach at Carlisle (Iowa) High. “It’s never been about Seth. It’s always been about the team.”

Tuttle became a fixture in the starting lineup as a freshman and will leave ranked in the program’s top 10 for scoring, rebounds, blocks and shooting percentage.

“I know exactly what Coach (Jacobson) is thinking,” he said. “I understand what we’re going to do to get a good look. It makes it pretty easy for me to help our team get in the right spots.”

Larson recognizes that player from the West Fork team won the Class 2A title in 2011. Larson played point guard, but everybody knew Tuttle ran the show.

“He saw the bigger picture,” Larson said. “He was out there to get stuff for his teammates and that excited him more than getting his own stuff.”

Baker a Robertson finalist — Wichita State guard Ron Baker is one of 14 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, a national player of the award given by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

Baker, a junior from Scott City, averages 15.2 points and 4.5 rebounds for the 11th-ranked Shockers (26-3). He recorded his first double-double in Sunday’s win over Evansville with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Tuttle is also one of the players on the list.

The other players are Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon, Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein, Syracuse’s Rakeem Christmas, Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant, Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky, Iowa State’s George Niang, Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, Gonzaga’s Kevin Pangos and Kyle Wiltjer, Bobby Portis of Arkansas, Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell and Utah’s Delon Wright.

The award will be presented April 14 in Oklahoma City.

Baker is one of 16 finalists for the Jerry West Award for the nation’s top shooting guard. He was also included on watch lists for the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award, both national player of the year honors, released earlier this month.

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Northern Iowa’s Seth Tuttle does it all for the Panthers."