Dave Selvig
Tytan Anderson spent his Fourth of July in New Orleans, and it wasn’t to party.
The 2020 North Scott High School graduate was in the Big Easy after getting signed to play with the New Orleans Pelicans Summer League team. Games begin on Thursday, with the Pelicans facing Minnesota at 2:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
After a stellar season at the University of Northern Iowa, where he earned First-team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors, Anderson took a brief break, but was back training quickly in Minneapolis in hopes of landing a professional opportunity either at home or abroad.
“I hired an agent and we were exploring the market here and overseas,” Anderson said. “The year before, I wasn’t even considering the NBA or anything professionally in terms of playing basketball, to be honest.”
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Anderson had already carved out a solid NCAA Division I career at UNI, but after averaging 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals in his final season for the Panthers, he had to revise his expectations.
“My final year, I took a big leap and (playing professionally) became more of a reality and something I had to put everything into,” said the versatile, 6-foot-6, 210-pounder left-hander, who was a two-time all-state selection for the Lancers in high school.
On the court, that meant becoming more of a focal point in the Panthers’ offense.
“I worked a lot on my shot and that opened the game up for me a little bit,” said Anderson, who made 57.7% of his shots last season. “I didn’t take a lot of 3s necessarily, but having the ball more in my hands and getting screened for instead of screening for other people allowed me to get some iso opportunities at the top of the key where I could make a play for myself or for my teammates.”
Pro scouts noticed.
Anderson got a call from New Orleans in late June and was offered the opportunity to play for the Pelicans’ Summer League team. He flew to New Orleans on July 4 to get the lay of the land and a few practices before it was off to Las Vegas for games, which run through July 20.
“It’s been a whirlwind but in a positive way,” he said. “All I can ask for is an opportunity and I have that now, so it’s about preparing the best way I can and taking advantage of it.”
’More out there for me’
While Anderson may have flown under the radar nationally during his career in Cedar Falls, the numbers he put up rank with the best players in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference.
Anderson finished his career as one of only nine players in MVC history with more than 1,200 points, 750 rebounds, 200 assists and 125 steals, joining Larry Bird, Hersey Hawkins, J.J. Anderson, Seth Tuttle, Marcus Timmons, Herb Johnson and Matt Renn.
While proud of what he achieved at UNI, Anderson really hasn’t spent much time reflecting on it just yet.
“It’s so surreal with everything going on right now I’ve just kind of tried to keep my head down and focused on what’s next,” he said. “UNI was a great place for me and I’m happy with what I was able to do, but I feel like there’s more out there for me.”
He also said there was never a consideration to shop his services through the transfer portal for financial gain.
“I felt as though chasing money wasn’t going to put my career where I wanted it to be given everything I had at UNI,” he said. “I felt like I was surrounded by the best people possible; the best coaches possible and the best teammates possible. I don’t regret a thing.”
Anderson crushed it in the classroom as well. He earned the prestigious MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and was named to the All-MVC academic team four consecutive years, earning his degree in business administration with a minor in coaching.
As he did for his success on the court with the Panthers, he also deflected credit for his academic excellence.
“I would give credit to Stacia Eggers (UNI Senior Associate AD for Student Services). She’s awesome and oversees academics and makes sure we’re staying on top of everything,” Anderson said. “Academics were always important to me, of course, but we were set up really well to have success with all of the support we got.”
Anderson “finds joy in coaching” and could definitely see himself going down that path at some point, but his focus now is on getting the most out of his own playing career.
“Whatever they want me to do, whether that’s the 4, 3, 2, 1, I’m not necessarily a guard, but defensively, being able to guard four positions, and rebounding, right now, those are my calling cards,” he said. “I’m going there with full confidence, knowing that I belong there because they (New Orleans) believe I belong there.
“I can’t try to be anyone other than me. I feel like that’s what’s gotten me to this point, so it’s just about going to work, hopefully playing well and then we’ll see what happens from there.”
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