Saturday, February 25th, 2017

Iowa State just beat the #9 team in the country!!  That's right, the Cyclones just upset Baylor, 72-69.

Deonte Burton led the Cyclones with 22 points, including a banked-in three with just over a minute to play that gave Iowa State a 4-point lead.  It was about time that Iowa State was on the lucky end of a banked-in three!  Burton was joined in double-figures scoring for ISU by Monte Morris (17), Solomon Young (11), and Naz Long (10).  Johnathan Motley was a beast for Baylor as he had 27 points and 11 rebounds.  The game itself was a lot of fun as it was close the entire way, and there was a sell-out crowd at Hilton.

This was the third time that I have seen Iowa State play Baylor.  Iowa State won back in 2013, while the Bears prevailed in 2015.   As far as top-10 victories that I have seen, this is the fourth.  Last year I watched ISU defeat #1 Oklahoma, there was the victory over #7 Michigan in 2013, and in 2015 Iowa State took out #9 Kansas.

I did bring Maxwell to today's game, so this was the third game that he has attended (this season vs. The Citadel and vs. TCU were the others).  He was a very good boy for today's game.  He clapped quite a bit during the start of the game, and then he took about a half-hour nap on me during the end of the first half and at halftime.  It was funny how he could fall asleep in such a noisy environment.

Iowa State 72, Baylor 69.

Saturday, February 18th, 2017

It's been too long since my last blog post.  I should have made an entry for this sooner, but I'm happy to finally state that Amy & Brandon welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world on February 7th!  Introducing Logan Anthony Shostak:

I'm so excited to have a new baby in the family!  We still haven't made the trip over to Omaha to see him in person!  I know that they've had a lot of visitors recently, so we're trying to wait for a good time when it won't be so hectic.  Besides, Nolan was sick with the flu all of last week, so we had to stay home anyways.  I'm sure before long though we'll get the meet the little cutie!

What reminded me to blog today though was Iowa State's victory over the TCU Horned Frogs, 84-71.  Maxwell and Eben were both able to come with me to enjoy tonight's game.  This was Maxwell's second ever ISU basketball game (the first was this season vs The Citadel), and this was the first Big 12 conference game that he has attended. Interestingly, Nolan's first conference game was also against TCU (and it's 84-69 score was almost identical).  I must say that Maxwell was very well behaved for tonight's game.  He actually clapped along with the crowd basically non-stop for the first 10 minutes of the game.  I think that he was just like "Hey, I know how to do that", which really entertained him.

TCU won the opening tip-off.

Maxwell poses with me for his first scoreboard picture :)

Grandpa Eben with Maxwell.

As for the game, I would say that Naz Long was the player of the game.  He led the Cyclones with 25 points while connecting on 7 of 12 threes.  He also led the team with 7 rebounds.  Monte Morris also had a great game for Iowa State.  He scored 18 points, dished out 11 assists, and he recorded 2 steals (which places him in a tie for the Iowa State career record for steals with Jeff Hornacek at 211).  They were joined in double figures scoring by Deonte Burton (18) and Donovan Jackson (11).  Tonight was the fourth time that I have attended an ISU basketball game vs TCU (2015, 2014, and 2013 were the others).

Wednesday, February 1st, 2017

I just wanted to quickly say Happy Birthday to our little Maxwell who turned one year old today!! Today I had a late day at work, but Elizabeth took the day off to play with the kids, and grandma Becky came down to help celebrate.  They went out for lunch at Hickory Park so Maxwell could have  a birthday song and ice cream.  This past year seems to have gone by so quickly.  Maxwell has been such a happy baby who loves to smile all of the time.  We're lucky to have the two good boys that we do.  Love you!

Tuesday, January 24th, 2017

I just got back from watching the Cyclones hold off the Kansas State Wildcats, 70-65.  This game was way more stressful than it needed to be.  After getting off to a hot start in the first half, the Cyclones led by as many as 20 points in the second half.  However, before you knew it, they had blown the entire lead, and Kansas State came back to actually take a one point lead late in the second half.  Thankfully, the Cyclones managed to make some key plays down the stretch to seal the victory.
Matt Thomas was the player of the game for the Cyclones.  He scored a career-high 25 points, which included shooting 7 of 10 from three point land.  He had 20 points in the first half.  Thomas was joined in double-figures scoring for the Cyclones by Naz Long (13) and Monte Morris (12).  Coming into today's game, both teams were receiving votes in the AP top-25, but neither team was ranked.

This is the fifth time that I have seen Iowa State play (and defeat) Kansas State.  The previous times were back in 2016, 2013, 2012, and in 2003.

Iowa State 70, Kansas State 65.

Monday, January 16th, 2017

I just got back from Hilton Coliseum after watching the Iowa State Cyclones lose a hard-fought game against the #2 ranked Kansas Jayhawks, 76-72.  The Jayhawks led for most of the game, double digits at times, and ISU just could not quite close the gap.  Kansas did have a 10 point lead with under two minutes to play, but Monte Morris and Naz Long connected on back to back three-pointers to make it interesting.

One thing that I will remember about this game was the fun atmosphere.  There was a light-up foam stick placed at every seat that would flash red when turned on.  That made for a pretty cool scene when the stadium's lights were turned down for player introductions.  

Monte Morris was the player of the game for Iowa State.  He finished with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals.  He was joined in double-figure scoring by Deonte Burton (21) and Naz Long (18).  The problem was that besides those three guys, the rest of the team only combined for 10 points.  

Tonight was the third time that I have seen ISU play Kansas, but unfortunately the Cyclones have only won one of those games (back in 2015).  

Pregame where you can see everyone's glow stick.

Kansas won the opening tip.

Saturday, January 7th, 2017

Iowa State 79, Texas 70.

Today Eben came down to spend the day playing with the grandkids, and then he joined me at the game to watch the Cyclones handle the Longhorns.  Iowa State seemed in control for most of the game tonight as they led by as many as 14 points in the second half.  Deonte Burton was the player of the game for Iowa State, as he scored a game-high 27 points.  Burton even made a three-pointer right before the half to put the Cyclones up nine, 40-31.  Monte Morris also played a very complete game for the Cyclones as he scored 22 points, collected 10 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists.  The only other player in double figures for Iowa State was Naz Long, who had 11 points.  I will remember one bone-head play by Naz in this game.  At one point he had a break away where he was all by himself, and he tried to dunk it with two hands.  He missed the dunk, and then he was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim afterwards.

This is the sixth time that I have seen Iowa State play (and defeat) Texas.  The others were back in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and back in 2004.

Go State!

Friday, December 30th, 2016

Iowa State 63, Texas Tech 56.

Tonight I took Nolan with me to watch the Cyclones pull out a hard-fought win against the Red Raiders of Texas Tech.  In case you are keeping track (like I am), this was Nolan's 10th men's basketball game, and his third conference game (vs TCU in 2013-14 and vs Kansas State in 2015-16 were the others).  The Cyclones are a perfect 10-0 when Nolan has been in attendance! As for me, this was the fifth time that I have seen the Cyclones play (and defeat) the Red Raiders (2016, 2015, 2013, and 2012 were the others).

The game itself was not exactly inspiring.  To describe it best, I must say that the Cyclones played like flaming dog shit in the first half and trailed 25-35 at halftime.  They managed to pull their heads out of their asses enough to rally and erase a 14-point second half deficit en-route to victory.  Sorry for the language, but it seems more descriptive that way.  I guess that I will say Monte Morris was the player of the game for Iowa State as he scored 14 points and dished out 6 assists.  Naz Long did lead the team in scoring with 19 points, but he also went 1-7 from three point range.  They were the only two Cyclones in double figures scoring.

A view of the action against Texas Tech in the first half.  

Here Matt Thomas is shooting a 1-and-1 that would help seal the victory for Iowa State.