Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

Well, crap.  I guess all good things must come to an end.  Tonight I watched as Iowa State's 21-game home court winning streak came to an end at the hand of the Baylor Bears, 79-70.  It was two years ago to the day, 2/25/13, that I last saw Iowa State lose a basketball game in person.  I believe that includes 23 straight games that Iowa State had won in which I had attended during that span.  Going into tonight's game, Iowa State was ranked #12, and Baylor was ranked #19.  This was the sixth time that I have witnessed a top-25 showdown in Hilton Coliseum, and Iowa State is now 5-1 in those games.  This was also the second game that I have seen the Cyclones play against Baylor (2013 was the other).

Iowa State played pretty well tonight, but there was a stretch in the second half where it just seemed like Baylor could not miss.  Baylor finished the game going 14-26 from 3-point range, but there was a decisive stretch where they made 5 or 6 threes in a row.  I couldn't believe it.  This overshadowed a good performance for Jameel McKay for Iowa State, who scored 21 points for the Cyclones.  Joining McKay in double figures for Iowa State was Georges Niang (14) and Matt Thomas (13).  Even though they lost, Iowa State should still have a decent seed in the NCAA tournament in March.

Here is the view from my seats in section 216.