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Seth Tuttle named Larry Bird MVC Player of Year

Photo courtesy of Mike Dunlop
Photo courtesy of Mike Dunlop

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The 2015 MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year is senior Seth Tuttle of the University of Northern Iowa. Tuttle, the MVC’s active leader in both scoring and rebounding, has helped the Panthers to a 27-3 overall record and No. 11 national rank.

Tuttle (Sheffield, Iowa/West Fork HS) is the third Panther to earn the league’s top honor following Jason Daisy (1997) and Adam Koch (2010). Tuttle leads the Panthers in scoring (15.6 ppg), rebounding (6.6 rpg), assists (3.3 apg) and blocks (0.6 bpg). Tuttle is shooting 63.0 percent from the field, which ranks No. 4 in the nation.

Tuttle has been named as a finalist on a host of national award lists, including the 2015 Oscar Robertson Trophy list, the 2015 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award list and the Naismith Trophy Midseason List. Tuttle is the only active player in the nation with more than 1,600 career points (1,681), 850 career rebounds (875) and 250 career assists (267).

He is the fifth UNI Panther to earn first-team All-MVC accolades in back-to-back seasons. Tuttle posted seven 20-point scoring games to go along with four double-doubles this season. He poured in a career-high 29 points and was 9-of-13 from the field in a 70-54 win over No. 12 Wichita State on Jan. 31. Tuttle was named the MVC Player of the Week four times as a senior (seven times in his career).

The MVC also selects a “Sixth Man Award” recipient, and this season’s honor goes to UNI junior guard Wes Washpun (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/C.R. Washington HS). The honor is presented to the league’s top reserve player (one who has started fewer than 25 percent of his team’s games). Washpun has played in all 30 of UNI’s games, coming off the bench in all of them. Nonetheless, he ranks second in scoring for the team with his 8.2 points-per-game average. He also ranks second for the Panthers in assists (83) and blocks (17), while tying for the team lead in steals (31). Washpun is the second UNI player to earn the Sixth Man Award, which was first chosen in 1997. Lucas O’Rear won it previously for UNI, in 2009 and in 2010.

Washpun and senior guard Deon Mitchell (Pflugerville, Texas/Pflugerville HS) were also named to the honorable mention All-MVC squad. Mitchell led the league in three-point field goal percentage (57.5 percent) in MVC games only. He started all 30 games for the Panthers and averaged 7.2 ppg. He ranks second on the team with 30 steals.

Junior Paul Jesperson (Merrill, Wis./Merrill HS/Univ. of Virginia) tallied a spot on the MVC’s All-Newcomer Team. Jesperson saw action in all 30 games, while averaging 5.8 ppg. Jesperson has drilled 49.2 percent of his field goal attempts and has also made 44.8 percent of his 3-point shots. Jesperson ranks second on the squad with 43 made 3-pointers. Jesperson has made at least one 3-pointer in each of his last 10 games.

No. 11-ranked UNI (27-3 overall) will be in action Friday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. The Panthers will play the winner of the Drake-Bradley game.

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