“Tytan Anderson with another rebound,” is something that the broadcasters said quite a lot in UNI’s home basketball game on Saturday, Feb. 24. The Panthers were going up against in-state rival and one of the top teams in the conference, Drake, and Tytan Anderson had one of the best performances of his career to date. He had 18 points and a career-high 18 rebounds to help lead the Panthers 91-77 victory over the Bulldogs. In a big game for the Panthers, Anderson showed why he is such an important piece to this team.
The 18 rebounds for Anderson were a career high, but he has been one of the top rebounders in the conference for two seasons now. Standing at 6 “6’, Anderson is an elite rebounder for an undersized post player. Last season he led the conference in rebounding with 8.5 rebounds per game, and is top 10 in the conference this year with 6.7.
Anderson says that it is the way that he approaches the game that makes him such a great rebounder. “I think it is just that dog mentality, I go after every loose ball, every rebound, long rebounds, gotta battle sometimes against those bigger guys.”
Along with the rebounding, Anderson also has 35 steals, 18 blocks and does a lot of the hustle things that do not always show up on the stat sheet at the end of the games. He is also one of the leading scorers for the Panthers, averaging nearly 12 points per game.
He attributes a lot of his success over the last two seasons from his experiences his first two years on the team. Particularly his sophomore year when he was more of a role player, the Panthers had a lot of veteran players that helped lead the team to a regular season conference championship. Anderson says that, “I think it was a great opportunity to learn and grow,” and also emphasized building on what they had done and continuing the program’s success.
One thing Anderson has not gotten to be a part of, and that the program as a whole has not for some time now, is a conference tournament championship and an opportunity to participate in March Madness.
Anderson said, “I think just our defense, being more physical, and rebounding,” will be the team’s biggest keys to achieving this goal.
The season is winding down and the conference tournament is coming up quickly. Anderson and the Panthers will look to do something that the program has not since the 2015-16 season, as they will battle to earn a spot in the big dance.
