Saturday, March 22nd, 2025

 Today our family drove home from Milwaukee, where we travelled to watch the first round NCAA tournament game between the 3-seed Iowa State Cyclones and 14-seed Lipscomb Bisons.  I'm pleased to say that the Cyclones won in convincing fashion, 82-55!  

We drove out to Milwaukee on Thursday.  That evening we checked out Lakefront Brewery.  Elizabeth and I had to order a beer called "My Turn: Nolan", because of course we did.  It was a stout, and I thought it was very good.  Then we found a bar / arcade called Dead Bird Brewing, where the adults ordered a couple more drinks and the kids got to play games.  They even had an old TV playing movies on VHS tapes, which the kids got a kick out of.  

On Friday before the game we grabbed lunch at Milwaukee Brat House.  We arrived close to 10:50 (when the website said that it opened at 11:00).  It was a good thing we came early, because it was already open and almost full.  I ordered a German style brat, which was topped with kraut and sauteed onions.  It was very tasty.  Elizabeth was able to order a Beyond Burger, so she was happy about that.

After lunch we walked over to the game, which tipped-off at 12:30.  Lipscomb University is located in Nashville, Tennessee, and the Bisons are members of the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN).  Coming into the game, Tamin Lipsey was questionable, as he is dealing with a groin strain.  He was still able to start the game and play effectively, which was a relief.  The game itself was a blow-out.  Iowa State led by a score of 40-24 at halftime, and the entire second half was pretty stress-free.  Milan Momcilovic was the player of the game for Iowa State, as he led the team with 20 points.  He was joined in double figures scoring by Curtis Jones (17), Joshua Jefferson (10), and Tamin Lipsey (10).   One fun thing about the game was that walk-on Cade Kelderman was able to score 5 points. 

Today before we headed home we stopped at Slick City, which is an indoor amusement park that has a bunch of slides and go-carts.  The kids had fun for a few hours and got to burn off some energy before the drive home.

I had always wanted to go to an Iowa State men's NCAA tournament game, so it was nice to be able to take the whole family to one.  This marked the 45th men's Iowa State basketball game that Nolan has attended, and it was the 37th game that Maxwell has attended.  We also stayed for about half of the second game of the session - between North Carolina and Mississippi.  I won't really count that game in the kids' totals.  Ole Miss ended up winning that one, and they will be Iowa State's opponent tomorrow in the round of 32.  

Nolan, Maxwell, and Elizabeth watching the game.

Here I am enjoying a couple of beers (PBR) at the Milwaukee Brat House.

GO CYCLONES!

Tuesday, March 4th, 2025

 On one hand college basketball can be exhilarating when your team wins in spectacular fashion. However, on the other hand, it can really be heartbreaking to lose a close game.  That's what happened tonight for the #10 Cyclones, who came up on the short end of the stick in double overtime against #23 BYU, 88-85.  

Originally I was not planning to take either of the boys to the game tonight, as tip-off was scheduled for 8:00 PM.  However, there is a blizzard warning for tomorrow, and the kid's school has already been cancelled.  As it happened, Nolan agreed to go to tonight's game since he will be able to sleep in tomorrow morning. 

To be honest, I was quite happy that Iowa State even had a chance to win this game at the end.  BYU played very well in the first half and led at halftime by a score of 33-24.  Things got worse for the Cyclones to start the second half, and at one point Iowa State was trailing by 21 points in the second half.  Thankfully, Iowa State was able to mount a furious comeback, which was very similar to the game against Oklahoma in 2015.  

With 9 seconds left in regulation, Joshua Jefferson made 2 free throws to tie the game and send it to the first overtime.  He also made a basket with 34 seconds left in the first overtime to put ISU up two points.  Of course BYU made a layup to tie it on their next possession.  In the second overtime Iowa State just could not make the plays to get over the hump.

I suppose that I will call Joshua Jefferson the player of the game for Iowa State.  He led the team with 19 points, and he did score some clutch points to give the Cyclones a chance at the end.  He was joined in double figures scoring by Milan Momcilovic (18), Curtis Jones (16), Tamin Lipsey (15), and Keshon Gilbert (13).  

Tonight's game was the 44th game that Nolan has attended.  The loss snaps a 19-game winning streak of games that Nolan has attended.  It was his first time watching Iowa State play BYU.  For me, this was the third time I have seen the Cyclones play the Cougars.  The previous games were Cyclone wins in 2024 and 2012.  

Here is a recap of the 2024-25 regular season games that I attended:

Wins:

• Arizona
• Colorado
• Cincinnati
• TCU
• UCF
• Utah
• Baylor
• Omaha
• Jackson State
• Marquette
• UMKC
• Mississippi Valley State

Losses:

• BYU

Saturday, March 1st, 2025

 My favorite month of the year is finally here!  Besides my birthday and the warming temperatures, March also is my favorite time of the year for sports... especially the March Madness tournament.

Tonight I was able to take Nolan over to Hilton Coliseum, where we witnessed a memorable victory for the #9 Cyclones over the #22 Arizona Wildcats, 84-67.  The atmosphere inside Hilton was really top-notch for today's game.  It was a sell-out, the crowd was all wearing yellow for the "gold rules" game, and a couple of former Cyclone greats were in attendance for the game - Tyrese Haliburton and Georges Niang!  During halftime of tonight's game they dropped a banner from the rafters in Hilton to honor Haliburton winning a gold medal with team USA during the last summer Olympics.

As for the game itself, Milan Momcilovic was the player of the game.  He led the team with 17 points, including four 3-pointers that he hit in the first half. The Cyclones would lead by as many as 24 points in the second half before Arizona made it a little more interesting towards the end.  Momcilovic was joined in double-figures scoring for the Cyclones by Tamin Lipsey (15), Curtis Jones (12), Nate Heise (12), and Brandton Chatfield (10).  

Tonight was the 43rd time that Nolan has attended a Cyclone men's basketball game.  It was his 15th conference win, and it was the third time that he has witnessed Iowa State knock off a top-25 team.  The previous top-25 teams he has seen ISU defeat were #5 Marquette earlier this season and #8 Kansas in 2023.  There are now only 5 more conference foes that Nolan needs to collect before he can say that he has seen Iowa State defeat every team in the Big 12.  That would be: Arizona State, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF.  

For myself, this was the first time that I have seen the Cyclones play Arizona.  The only Big 12 teams that I have not seen Iowa State defeat are Houston and Arizona State.  

Nolan with his Clone Cone before the game.

You can see that Nolan was quite tired by the end of the game.  It was about 10:30 PM by the time the game finished.  

Tuesday, February 18th, 2025

 Today was a chilly day in Ames, as the temperature was 14 degrees below zero when I got into work this morning.  Days like this really make it hard to wait for the warmer temperatures of springtime.  

Another thing that I always look forward to in spring is March Madness.  Speaking of that, tonight I was able to take Nolan with me to Iowa State's basketball game, where the #8 Cyclones easily handled the Colorado Buffalos, 79-65.  Iowa State started the game out strong and led by a score of 20-5 early on.  From there, the Cyclones cruised to an easy win.  At times the second half seemed a bit boring and sloppy, but a stress-free win is always nice.

It's hard to pick a player of the game today, but I suppose that I will go with Joshua Jefferson, who scored 12 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 4 assists.  He was one of five Cyclones in double figures scoring, including Milan Momcilovic (13), Dishon Jackson (13), Tamin Lipsey (12), and Nate Heise (11).  

I always am happy when one of the boys gets to cross off another Big 12 conference opponent from the list.  Now that Nolan has seen the Cyclones defeat Colorado, he only has 6 more teams to go.  That would include: Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF.  Overall, this was the 42nd men's basketball game that Nolan has attended, and it was his 14th conference win.  As for myself, I really cannot remember if I have seen the Cyclones play Colorado before or not.  I know that there were a handful of games that I went to when I was a student that I was not keeping track of... which possibly could have included Colorado.  But since I've been keeping track, this is the first time I have seen the Cyclones play the Buffaloes.  

GO STATE!

Saturday, February 15th, 2025

This afternoon I took Maxwell over to Hilton Coliseum, where we watched the #10 Iowa State Cyclones take down the Cincinnati Bearcats, 81-70.  

 It was a hard fought and close game for the most part.  At halftime, the score was tied at 39.  Both teams had a couple of technical fouls.  The difference in the game was at the free throw line, where the Cyclones made 26 of 30 attempts.  Curtis Jones was the player of the game for Iowa State, as he led the team with 22 points, and he was a perfect 12 for 12 from the charity stripe.  He was joined in double figures scoring for the Cyclones by Joshua Jefferson (13), Milan Momcilovic (12), and Tamin Lipsey (11).  The Bearcats were led in scoring by Jizzle James, who scored 25 points.  He must have the most ridiculous name of any player that I have seen in Hilton.  

Today's game was the 36th game that Maxwell has been to, and it was his 11th conference win.  There are now only 7 conference teams that Maxwell still needs to see ISU defeat in order to collect them all.  That would be: Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Houston, Oklahoma State, and Utah.  

This was actually the second time that I have seen Iowa State play Cincinnati.  The first time was back in 2016, when Cincinnati came out on top, 55-54.  

Iowa State 81, Cincinnati 70.

Saturday, February 8th, 2025

 Happy National Melvin Ejim Day!  At least that's what I called it on this date back in 2014, when Ejim scored 48 points to lead the Cyclones over the TCU Horned Frogs.  I guess February 8th is a good day for ISU to defeat TCU, as that is exactly what happened today, by a score of 82-52.  Iowa State came into today's game ranked #8 in the country.  

This morning Nolan and I met up with my friend Mike Kazlauskas and his nephew Logan, and we all headed over to Hilton Coliseum a bit earlier than usual.  You see, ESPN College GameDay was in town, and they did a live broadcast from inside Hilton about an hour before today's game.  

As for the game, Curtis Jones led the way for Iowa State, as he scored 24 points and connected on 5-6 from three-point range.  He was joined in double-figures scoring for the Cyclones by Milan Momcilovic (14), Dishon Jackson (14), and Joshua Jefferson (13).  A memorable thing about today's game was that it was the first game Momcilovic has played since January 11th, as he had been out with a broken hand.  The crowd was really excited even when he was going through warm-ups, and it got loud whenever he made a basket.  

Today's game was the 41st game that Nolan has attended, and it was his 13th conference victory.  Nolan has actually seen ISU play TCU 4 times now (2024, 2019, and 2014 were the other times).  

As for myself, this is the eighth time I have attended a basketball game against TCU.  The Cyclones have won 7 of those games (2024, 2020, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, and today's game), while the Horned Frogs came out on top in 2019.  

After today's game, the four of us met up with Elizabeth and Maxwell, and we had a nice lunch at Macubana on Welch Avenue.  I had never been there before, but I thought it was very good.  I had the Pancetta Cubano with fries.  Their Belgian fries were very good.  After lunch we all walked around campus, and we showed off a few of the different classrooms to Mike and Logan.  

I didn't get our usual scoreboard photo, but this was a nice selfie at least.

Tuesday, January 21st, 2025

 Tonight I took Maxwell over to Hilton Coliseum, where we watched the #3 Iowa State Cyclones dominate the UCF Knights 108-83.  The 108 points are the most points that have been scored by a Cyclone team under coach T.J. Otzelberger.

What I will remember most about this game is the outstanding play of Joshua Jefferson.  He tallied a career-high 30 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals.  He was joined in double-figure scoring for the Cyclones by Keshon Gilbert (21), Curtis Jones (19), and Demarion Watson (11).  It was nice to see Watson provide a spark off of the bench, especially now that Milan Momcilovic is sidelined with a fractured hand.  

Today's game is the 35th ISU men's basketball game that I have taken Maxwell to, and it was his 10th conference win.  UCF is the first "new Big 12" team that Maxwell has seen in basketball.  To collect wins against every Big 12 team, Maxwell still needs to see ISU defeat Oklahoma State, Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, and Utah.  

Another thing to note about today is how dang cold it was.  This morning when I got to work it was 11 degrees BELOW ZERO!  It was so cold that Maxwell did not even want a ice cream at the game... so he settled for popcorn instead.

Iowa State 108, UCF 83.