Saturday, February 8th, 2014

After tonight, we should probably celebrate February 8th each year as "National Melvin Ejim Day".  Well, at least a state-wide holiday if not a national one. 

48 points, 18 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist. 

That was Ejim's official stats for the game against TCU today.  He was an amazing 20 of 24 from the field including 2 for 2 from long range and 6 for 6 from the free throw line. His 48 points were a record for the Big 12.  It seemed like quite a few of his points came from alley-op dunks, and the Horned Frogs simply could not guard him. 

Tonight Elizabeth and Nolan came with me to watch the game.  This was Nolan's second time watching the men's basketball team at Hilton, and it was the first Big 12 conference game that he's been to. 

Tip-off between ISU and TCU

We had Nolan wear head phones so the noise wouldn't be too loud for him.

Tuesday, February 4th, 2014

Wednesday, March 2nd, 1988.  I would have still been 3 years old.  That was the last time that Iowa State won at Oklahoma State in basketball... until last night!

I am pretty exhausted right now because I stayed up way too late yesterday watching a thrilling basketball game.  Tip-off was at 8:00, so it was a late game anyways, but the fact that the game went to triple-overtime really kept me up past my bedtime!  Coming into the game, ISU was ranked #16 in the country while Oklahoma State was ranked #19.  There was so much drama in the game that it is hard to fully describe.  The biggest shot made by a Cyclone all night was the only field goal that Naz Long made.  Trailing by three points (89-86) at the end of the second overtime, Matt Thomas missed a three pointer, Kane picked up the long rebound and found Naz who amazingly hit the game-tying three pointer with 1.4 seconds left.  Before that basket, Long had not played for a majority of the game, and he has been in a shooting slump where he has not made a three for multiple games.  That was gutsy to say the least for a bench player to step up at such a key moment.

Here is a video of the SportsCenter highlights of the game.

I am so excited for the rest of the ISU basketball season!  Chances are that they will end up with a much better seed in the NCAA tournament than they have had the last couple of seasons :)

Saturday, February 1st, 2014

I just got back a while ago from Hilton Coliseum where I witnessed a nice Cyclone victory over the Oklahoma Sooners, 81-75.  Coming into the game, Iowa State was ranked #16 in the country, and Oklahoma was ranked #23.  This is the second time that I have seen an Iowa State game in person where both teams have been ranked (the first time was the Iowa Hawkeye game on December 13th).  I'm happy to say that ISU has won both of those top-25 match-ups so far! 

Georges Niang was the player of the game for Iowa State as he scored a career-high 27 points.  He nailed a huge 3 pointer to put ISU up six points with just under a minute to play in the game.  Three other Cyclones joined Niang in double figures scoring (Ejim had 22, Thomas had 13, and Monte Morris added 12).    

This gamed marked the fifth time this year that Iowa State has beaten a ranked opponent (Michigan, Iowa, Baylor, Kansas State, and now Oklahoma).  If they keep playing well, things will be looking good in terms of seeding come March!

Iowa State controlled the opening tip.

Cyclones win!!

Sunday, January 19th, 2014

Today we took Nolan for his 6-month photo shoot... check out how cute our baby is!!

Monday, January 6th, 2014

Happy New Year!!  I'm happy to say that I've made it 6 whole days now without accidentally writing 2013 instead of 2014 on anything yet!  That's always a little thing that drives me crazy when the calendar turns to a new year...

Anyways, it's also time to start celebrating Elizabeth's big birthday week!  She's turning 29 (again). 

After work today I stopped by my friend Abbey's place to pick up a birthday cake that she made for Elizabeth. 

Good smile Nolan!

Tuesday, December 31st, 2013

It's hard to believe that in a little over 3 hours it will already be 2014... it's definitely been a good year though!  The arrival of Nolan in July was the highlight of the year for sure! 

I just got back from another Iowa State men's basketball game, this time it was an easy 99-63 victory over the Huskies of Northern Illinois.  DeAndre Kane was the player of the game for Iowa State in my opinion.  He was only 2 rebounds away from a triple-double (16 points, 12 assist, 8 rebounds), and that was only in 28 minutes of playing time.  He was one of 6 Cyclones in double figures along with Ejim (17), Naz Long (17), Niang (14), Dustin Hogue (11), and Monte Morris (11).  The most exciting play was a transition alley-op from Kane to Ejim. 

Overall the atmosphere in Hilton was somber though and not as rowdy as usual.  Before the game today an Iowa State legend and longtime coach, Johnny Orr passed away at the age of 86.  There was a nice video tribute to him and a moment of silence before tip-off.   I'm glad that Orr was able to be honored this year for the Michigan game one last time in front of the crowd. 

Iowa State wins the opening tip.

So close to 100 points!

Wednesday, December 25th, 2013

Happy first X-Mas to Nolan :)

Here is a link to a video of Nolan opening his first Christmas presents...

What did Nolan get for Christmas then?  He got a Jumparoo (a big thing that he can jump in and play with toys that are mounted all around him), a high chair, some baby gates (to make the stairways safe for him), some clothes, a wooden puzzle of his name, and other practical items for him (bottle brush, etc).

Santa brought me a nice Shutterfly photo album of our wedding (lots of pictures from other people that we hadn't developed yet), a yellow Iowa State t-shirt, a flag pole for my ISU flag, and a beer can chicken holder. 

Santa brought Elizabeth some Iowa State sweatpants, a Iowa State t-shirt, a bottle of rum, a speaker that lets her listen to music in the shower, and then she had a scavenger hunt for her last gift.  She has been wanting to re-paint the kitchen, so the gift was a paintbrush and an "ok" from me to paint. 

Grandma Becky has been down sharing the day with us, and it has been very fun.  We just finished eating some "Northwest Steakhouse" style steaks that were cooked in butter.  Happy Holidays to all!