By: Cael Sleezer
Food was eaten, memories were made, and some much needed
R&R was acquired before the last push for finals. As the title states, a
plethora of ISU sports happened over the break, and boy was it eventful.
Here’s everything you missed.
Going into Thanksgiving break, the football team was 6-4 with
Oklahoma and TCU awaiting them. The Cyclones fought valiantly in
Norman, but came up short to the Sooners 28-21. Purdy had a rough day
in the pocket, taking 7 sacks and losing a fumble at the end of the first half
that resulted in the deciding 7 point margin. He also missed two drives in
the second half as a result of being dinged up, with Hunter Dekkers filling in with a touchdown drive and an interception. The Cyclones has a chance to send the game into overtime, but Pat Fields sealed the game with a
red-zone interception. Despite the tough loss, Breece Hall extended his
rushing touchdown streak to 23, tying Bill Burnett’s FBS record set in 1970.
Charlie Kolar also had career highs of 12 catches and 152 yards.
Six days later, Ames said an emotional farewell to Cyclone legends on senior day. A special game unfolded before the faithful fans, as record
after record was broken in the 48-14 blowout. Breece Hall set the new FBS
consecutive games-with-a-rushing-touchdown record with 24 in a row,
prompting an uproar of cheers from the foundation of Jack Trice Stadium
as he gave the ball to his mother in the front row of the stands. Hall also
shattered his single-game rushing yard record with 242 on the ground,
which helped him get 3 touchdowns. He also had another touchdown and
39 yards in the air. Charlie Kolar set school records for most receiving
yards (723) and catches (59) by a tight end in a season. Xavier Hutchinson
set his own school record with an 82-catch season after putting up a 7-107
stat line. Iowa State will say a final farewell to the seniors that helped build
the “five-star culture” in a TBD bowl game.
The cross country teams fared well at the NCAA championships.
Wesley Kiptoo lead the men’s squad to a national runner-up finish, the best
ISU team finish in 27 years. Cailie Logue led the women to a 9th place
team finish as she placed 4th individually and finished her 6K race in under
20 minutes.
The volleyball team fought valiantly in Waco vs. 7th-ranked Baylor,
but lost 3-0 in their final regular-season contest. However, the Cyclones qualified for the NCAA tournament for the 14th time in 16 years under
coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, as they will face Stanford in round 1 on
December 3rd.
The wrestlers had an impressive week of action, as they had four title
winners at the Daktronics Open in South Dakota (Kysen Terukina, Zach
Redding, Jarret Degen, David Carr). In the first home meet(s) of the
season, the Cyclones had decisive victories over Army (25-9) and
California Baptist (39-0), with Marcus Coleman, Yonger Bastida, Ramazan
Attasauov, Zach Redding, and David Carr all won their matches in both
contests. The underclassmen showed their prowess in the Harold Nichols
Cyclone Open on Sunday, as six wrestlers finished in second place in their
respective brackets (Conor Knopick, Drew Woodley, Cody Fisher, Caleb
Fuessley, Cam Robinson, Ethan Andersen). The 13th-ranked Cyclones will
have a tough test with the top-ranked Hawkeyes coming to town on Sunday
to kick off the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.
And lastly, perhaps the most exciting and promising sport of the bunch: basketball. The women took care of business at the Gulf Coast Showcase, toppling Charlotte (75-59), Penn State (93-59), and UMass (76-71) to take home the championship. The Joens sisters lead the way as they combined for 34.6 PPG during the tournament.
And the men… they shocked the world. Coming off the worst season in nearly a century, firing Steve Prohm, and starting from near-scratch on the roster, TJ Otzelberger and his team had all of the hard work, all of the practices, all of the foundational rebuilding: manifest in front of the eyes of
college basketball. The Cyclones had their first true test of the season at
the Upsie NIT Season Tipoff facing 25th-ranked Xavier, and they showed
their grit in an 82-70 victory. Izaiah Brockington lead the way with 30 points, as George Conditt, Gabe Kalcheur, and Tyrese Hunter all had 10+ points.
The championship game awaited against Emoni Bates and the
9th-ranked Memphis Tigers. It was a defensively dominated game as both
sides played suffocating defense and had a combined 37 turnovers. Gabe
Kalcheur put up an MVP-winning performance as he had a 30-point game
of his own, as Tyrese Hunter, Izaiah Brockington, Tristan Enaruna and Jazz
Kunc put up 9+ points each in a decisive 78-59 victory, the largest margin
of victory over a top-10 opponent in school history. Iowa State basketball
has put the nation on notice with a combined 13-0 record and two
tournament wins in the month of November, with both teams now ranked in the top 20 nationally.
With Cyclone Athletics surging and Cy-Hawk week and finals inching
closer, one thing is for certain: December is going to be intense in the city
of Ames.