Wednesday, November 30th, 2022

 Iowa State 63, North Dakota 44

Tonight I went by myself to Hilton, where I watched the Cyclones take down the Fighting Sioux Hawks of North Dakota.  North Dakota is a member of the Summit League in basketball, and they are located in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

The first half of the game displayed some rather uninspiring basketball by the Cyclones, as they only led by a score of 26-24 at halftime.  The Cyclones did find their shooting touch in the second half, and that was largely due to Caleb Grill, who connected on 4/5 three-pointers and led all scorers with 16 points.  Grill was joined in double figures scoring by Tamin Lipsey (11) and Robert Jones (10).  I enjoyed watching Lipsey finally break into double figures scoring, as he has not been much of an offensive threat thus far this year.  

Sunday, November 20th, 2022

 Tonight I brought Maxwell over the Hilton Coliseum, where we watched the Cyclones defeat the Panthers of UW-Milwaukee, 68-53.  Iowa State came out tonight with great defensive intensity, and they ended up forcing 27 Panther turnovers.  Jaren Holmes was the player of the game for Iowa State, as he led the team with 19 points.  He was joined in double figures scoring by Caleb Grill (11), Aljaz Kunc (10), and Robert Jones (10).  UW-Milwaukee is a member of the Horizon League.  

Tonight was the 20th men's basketball game that I have taken Maxwell to.  This was the second time that I have witnessed the Cyclones play against UW-Milwaukee, and I must say that tonight was much more enjoyable of a game to watch.  The Panthers had defeated ISU in the season-opener back in 2017, which was one of the more disappointing games that I have been to.  

I also wanted to mention that we had our Salton Thanksgiving this weekend.  Amy & Brandon brought their kids over from Omaha, and Eben drove down from the farm.  I ordered a smoked turkey breast from Watcha Smokin, and we made a bunch of sides to go with it (scalloped corn, mashed potatoes & gravy, Brussels sprouts, a relish tray, cornbread stuffing, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin bars).  It is always nice having the chance to spend some time with family.

ISU 68, UW-Milwaukee 53.

Nolan, Logan, Emma, and Maxwell with grandpa Eben.  

Sunday, November 13th 2022

 Today Maxwell and I went over to Hilton Coliseum, where we watched the Cyclones defeat the Aggies of North Carolina A&T, 80-43.  

I gave Maxwell the option to pick whatever he wanted from the concession stand today, and instead of pop or a Clone Cone he decided to grab a package of gummy bears.  Today marks the 19th time I have taken him to see a men's basketball game.  Today was much more entertaining than the last game I took Maxwell to, which was an embarrassing loss to Oklahoma State last year.

 As for today's game, Aljaz Kunc was the player of the game for the Cyclones, as he finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.  He was joined in double figures scoring for Iowa State by Osunniyi (16), Holmes (13), and Tamin Lipsey (10).  It was nice to see Lipsey play well, as he is a hometown favorite who grew up in Ames.

Go Cyclones!

Monday, November 7th, 2022

 Tonight I am happy because college basketball season has officially tipped-off.  I took Nolan over to Hilton to watch the Cyclones open their 2022-23 season with a convincing 88-39 victory over the IUPUI Jaguars.  

In case you are wondering, IUPUI stands for Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.  I'm not sure who thought that one up, but what a dumb name.  The Jaguars compete in the Horizon league.  

Anyways, the game was not very competitive from the start, but it was fun to see all of the new faces on this years team.  One of the new faces, Jaren Holmes, led the Cyclones with 23 points.  He was joined in double-figures scoring by Gabe Kalscheur (16), and Osun Osunniyi (10).  Both Holmes and Osunniyi are transfers from St. Bonaventure.  Osunniyi seems to be a nice defensive presence on the inside, as he had a couple of blocks today.

This was Nolan's 27th men's basketball game that I have taken him to.  The last men's game that he attended was the win against West Virginia last year.  

Iowa State 88, IUPUI 39.

The Clone Cones are huge!

Saturday, November 5th, 2022

 THAT'S ANOTHER CYCLONE... VICTORY! 

Today was the 2022 homecoming football game for Iowa State, and I'm glad to say that the Cyclones were able to play well and defeat the West Virginia Mountaineers, 31-14.  

Since it was homecoming, I helped push my aunt LaVonne in her wheelchair like usual, for the ISU alumni band.  We started the day at the Bergstrom practice facility, where the alumni band and the regular ISU varsity band practiced formations and how they would enter / exit the field for halftime.  At the start of the day, we were not even sure if we would be performing during the halftime show, since it was raining so much that there was some thought that the halftime show would be cancelled in order to not tear up the field if it was too wet.  The rain eventually subsided, and the sun came out enough to let us perform.  

As for the game, Hunter Dekkers threw 2 TD passes, and the ISU defense came up big quite a few times.  The defense held West Virginia to 200 yards of total offense (some of that coming in garbage time), and they forced seven 3-and-outs.  Anthony Johnson also had an interception for the ISU defence.

Today is the second time that I have seen the Cyclones defeat West Virginia in football (2018 was the other).  Besides those two wins, the only other time that I had attended an ISU/WV game was a West Virginia win back in 2012.  

Go Cyclones!

A view of the action in the second half.