Most top 25 teams are there because of how relentlessly they play on offense. Eighteenth-ranked Northern Iowa may be tougher at the other end of the court.
The Panthers (18-2, 7-1 Missouri Valley Conference) are off to their best start since 2010 because of player of the year candidate Seth Tuttle and the nation's sixth-best scoring defense. Tuttle, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior forward, leads the team in scoring (15.3 points per game), rebounding (6.6 per game) and assists (63). He is one of four players with at least 10 blocks on the year, with 12, and one of five with 10 steals or more.
"If you can't make jump shots against Northern Iowa, you're not gonna win the ballgame. Period," said SIU coach Barry Hinson, whose club hosts Northern Iowa tonight at 7:05. "If not the best, they're one of the best help-side defenses I've ever seen. You're gonna be able to move the basketball on the perimeter, but you're not gonna be able to penetrate it, and that's where they're best. That's the key. You gotta make jump shots against these guys, you always have."
Northern Iowa limited SIU (9-12, 2-6) to a Hinson era-low 39 points in a 16-point win earlier this season, and allowed 54.9 points per game on the season. The Salukis' starting guards, Anthony Beane and Deion Lavender, went a combined 0 of 14 from the field at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and a combined 0 of 6 from the 3-point line. SIU's guards scored a combined four points, one from Beane and three from Jalen Pendleton off the bench.
Northern Iowa's scoring defense is the best defensive mark in the past 20 Valley seasons, just ahead of the Panthers' 2009-10 group, which allowed 55.1 points per game. That team won the MVC regular season, the league tournament, and reached the NCAA Sweet 16.
"Naturally, they give you nothing easy," said Indiana State coach Greg Lansing, whose team lost 66-60 in the middle of Northern Iowa's current seven-game winning streak. "You're going to have to take the shots they want you to, and they're not going to let you get second ones."
Part of the Panthers' prowess at the defensive end has a North Dakota State football feel. Northern Iowa's average offensive possession this season lasts 20.8 seconds, according to KenPom.com, longer than any other team in the Valley. Opponents hardly see the basketball, according to Hinson, nontheless put it through the hoop.
"Most games you're going to get anywhere from 70-85 possessions a game. In a Northern Iowa game, you're lucky to get 65 possessions," he said. "Your possessions are normally going to be around 30 per half, and, man, that's really a different type of basketball game, especially in this age and era."
SIU is 10-14 all-time against nationally-ranked opponents at SIU Arena. The Salukis' last win against a top 25 team was the 64-62 nail-biter over then-No. 22 Wichita State on Feb. 5, 2013. Pendleton scored the game-winning basket when his runner in the lane was blocked by 7-footer Ehimen Orukpe with two seconds to go and called a goaltend.
Northern Iowa has struggled to win in Carbondale recently. The Panthers have dropped three of their last four here, and will run into an improved Saluki squad from early January.
SIU is averaging 68 points in his last two games. The Salukis averaged 50.5 in their first six conference games.
"When we saw 'em the first time, they were a pretty young team," Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. "They're still in a lot of ways, from a freshman-sophomore-junior standpoint, they're still young but they've got some game experience now and you can see it in how they're playing the last couple games. Just a little bit more continuity and getting things done with a little more confidence. No surprise that Barry's got them playing good already."
The Panthers (18-2, 7-1 Missouri Valley Conference) are off to their best start since 2010 because of player of the year candidate Seth Tuttle and the nation's sixth-best scoring defense. Tuttle, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound senior forward, leads the team in scoring (15.3 points per game), rebounding (6.6 per game) and assists (63). He is one of four players with at least 10 blocks on the year, with 12, and one of five with 10 steals or more.
"If you can't make jump shots against Northern Iowa, you're not gonna win the ballgame. Period," said SIU coach Barry Hinson, whose club hosts Northern Iowa tonight at 7:05. "If not the best, they're one of the best help-side defenses I've ever seen. You're gonna be able to move the basketball on the perimeter, but you're not gonna be able to penetrate it, and that's where they're best. That's the key. You gotta make jump shots against these guys, you always have."
Northern Iowa limited SIU (9-12, 2-6) to a Hinson era-low 39 points in a 16-point win earlier this season, and allowed 54.9 points per game on the season. The Salukis' starting guards, Anthony Beane and Deion Lavender, went a combined 0 of 14 from the field at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and a combined 0 of 6 from the 3-point line. SIU's guards scored a combined four points, one from Beane and three from Jalen Pendleton off the bench.
Northern Iowa's scoring defense is the best defensive mark in the past 20 Valley seasons, just ahead of the Panthers' 2009-10 group, which allowed 55.1 points per game. That team won the MVC regular season, the league tournament, and reached the NCAA Sweet 16.
"Naturally, they give you nothing easy," said Indiana State coach Greg Lansing, whose team lost 66-60 in the middle of Northern Iowa's current seven-game winning streak. "You're going to have to take the shots they want you to, and they're not going to let you get second ones."
Part of the Panthers' prowess at the defensive end has a North Dakota State football feel. Northern Iowa's average offensive possession this season lasts 20.8 seconds, according to KenPom.com, longer than any other team in the Valley. Opponents hardly see the basketball, according to Hinson, nontheless put it through the hoop.
"Most games you're going to get anywhere from 70-85 possessions a game. In a Northern Iowa game, you're lucky to get 65 possessions," he said. "Your possessions are normally going to be around 30 per half, and, man, that's really a different type of basketball game, especially in this age and era."
SIU is 10-14 all-time against nationally-ranked opponents at SIU Arena. The Salukis' last win against a top 25 team was the 64-62 nail-biter over then-No. 22 Wichita State on Feb. 5, 2013. Pendleton scored the game-winning basket when his runner in the lane was blocked by 7-footer Ehimen Orukpe with two seconds to go and called a goaltend.
Northern Iowa has struggled to win in Carbondale recently. The Panthers have dropped three of their last four here, and will run into an improved Saluki squad from early January.
SIU is averaging 68 points in his last two games. The Salukis averaged 50.5 in their first six conference games.
"When we saw 'em the first time, they were a pretty young team," Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. "They're still in a lot of ways, from a freshman-sophomore-junior standpoint, they're still young but they've got some game experience now and you can see it in how they're playing the last couple games. Just a little bit more continuity and getting things done with a little more confidence. No surprise that Barry's got them playing good already."
