No Seth? No prob! Panthers again prove they're more than a one-man band
ST. LOUIS -- Cut off the head of the beast, the tail swings from out of nowhere and uses your skull for a hockey puck. The wing does a Jimmy Connors backhand across your sternum.
It's Nate Buss in the corner, delivering daggers from way, way, way downtown. It's Deon Mitchell beating the rest of the free world down the floor. It's Jeremy Morgan, screening and scrapping and filling in the gaps.
Seth Tuttle, the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, was a statistical no-show for about 26 minutes Friday night. No. 11 Northern Iowa won by 25 anyway.
"Not many teams outside of the Valley would understand that if they looked at our roster," one of those anonymous Panther glue guys, guard Wes Washpun, told FOXSportsMidwest.com after UNI ripped Bradley 71-46 in a quarterfinal at the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament. "We're just around the seven to eight point-per-game range for everybody besides Seth. But we've got some guys, a lot of guys, who could have a (big) night any given night."
Nine Panthers went into the weekend averaging at least 13.6 minutes per game. Seven went in averaging between 4.9 and 8.2 points per contest.
Tuttle gets the ink. Those other eight guys work the paper route, thanklessly, rain or shine, making sure the goods get through.
"And that nine deep aren't just nine deep to keep legs fresh," Tuttle said. "We've got nine deep who could legitimately play and could start on a lot of teams.
"They all bring something different. It might be a sharpshooter. It might be a great defender. It might be a great ball-handler. We have, I think, exactly everything that you need."
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Tuttle (11 boards) is the 6-foot-8 anchor, with a rotating crew of interchangeable parts, all with something to add to the mix. Forward Marvin Singleton ranks second in the MVC in offensive rebounding percentage (12.7), despite being 6-6. Guards Mitchell and Washpun rank third and fourth, respectively, in steal percentage (3.4 and 3.1); guard Morgan is sixth. Wing gunner Matt Bohannon ranks third in turnover percentage (8.9).
And there's Buss, the 6-9 matchup nightmare, just your classic senior big with a shooting guard's range, who works at a .388 clip from beyond the arc, dropping a game-high 23 points, three short of his career high.
"It felt great just to be able to step up in a time when the team needed it to help get us that first win for all of our guys," said Buss, whose Panthers (28-3) hadn't won a game at Scottrade Center since 2010 -- the last UNI team to win the MVC tourney title. "Just know that I was able to help out like that. It's great to be in an offensive rhythm like I was in (Friday), like I haven't been all season."
Tuttle has enough Buss stories to fill a large pamphlet. His favorite, though, is from a summer league contest in which he had to guard his fellow rangy big man.
"And I let him go for 44 on me," Tuttle chuckled. "Because it was one of those things where, once he started, once he got it going, it's like, 'Oh my gosh.' And he started (with) fadeaways left and right ... transition threes ... pulling up from NBA range. When he gets going, he's an offensive weapon. And I'm glad he's on our team."
Many hands. One rope. Tuttle, UNI's Diana Ross, accounted for just 10 of the purple's points Friday. The rest of the Supremes picked up the other 61.
"They're ready when they're on the floor," coach Ben Jacobson said of his supporting cast. "They know that some nights, it's going to be more minutes and some nights, it's going to be less minutes. Some nights, it's going to be more shots. Some nights, it's going to be less shots.
"It's a unique team. I haven't coached a team like this before that has had this kind of versatility and this kind of depth. Usually, the depth is a little bit different, and minutes are more well-established. These guys have made it work."
And worked and worked and worked. Defense isn't sexy. And yet few fan bases cheer louder for it, or recognize its value more, than UNI fans, who have seen a physical, lunchpail approach raise a moribund program to repeated NCAA tourney berths and a Jayhawk-shaped pelt on the wall from March 2010, one of the all-time great upsets in Bracketville history.
Defense keyed a 19-5 run capped by a Tuttle dunk with 7:51 left in the contest, turning an uncomfortably close contest to a 61-39 laugher. It was a complete script-flip from late in the first half, when the Braves held Tuttle -- fronting him, harassing him -- to one point in the opening 20 minutes and no makes in three attempts. Los Bravos closed the half on a 14-3 run to pull the tourney's 10-seed to within 27-25 at the break.
"If we can't get it to (Tuttle)," Mitchell noted later, "somebody is going to have to step up."
Or, in this case, several somebodies. There's more than Tuttle on this bandwagon; a hell of a lot more. Take out the lead singer, the band plays on. Loudly.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.
