The Thrill Of Carver-Hawkeye Arena

With my family being huge Hawkeye fans, Carver-Hawkeye Arena has been almost a second home to me. Every year since I was born, my grandfather has bought season tickets to every Iowa Hawkeye Men's Basketball Season. Because of this, I've been going to Hawkeye games for as long as I can remember. Whenever there is a home game, I'm one of the first people my grandpa offers the ticket to. As long as I am free and I want to go to the game, the ticket is mine.
Earlier today, Sunday, January 1, 2016, I attended the Hawkeye game against the 22nd ranked team, the Purdue Boilermakers. Earlier in the season, when the unranked Hawkeyes, who are currently ranked 9th in the AP Top 25 Poll, traveled to West Lafayette to take on the then-ranked 14th Boilermakers in their own arena. In that game, the Hawkeyes rallied back from a 17-point first-half deficit to pull off a huge upset to the dismay of the home team fans. This game, today, the Boilermakers would be the ones attempting the upset.
The game was set to tip-off at 12:00 Central Time, and Carver-Hawkeye Arena was packed. Earlier in the week the team announced that all the tickets for this game was sold out, so a big crowd was to be expected. The Hawkeyes opened up the game with a 10-4 run and the arena was rocking. It got to the point where even the announcer couldn't be heard. After a foul was called on Jarrod Uthoff, the fans began to settle down, and Purdue came storming back to take a 13-10 lead. After that, both teams battled back and forth with Purdue taking a seven-point lead with 5:30 left in the half. The fans seemed all degraded with their team being unable to score and practically every three-pointer Purdue took falling, but there was still so much time left in the game. After a timeout, the Hawkeyes responded with a 9-4 run, and had the final shot of the half down just two points. In the final play of the half, however, the Hawkeyes were unable to score, although it appeared to many in the stands that multiple fouls should have been called. Never-the-less, the Hawkeyes went into the half down 35-33.
The second half was much different from the first half, however, and the Hawkeyes had complete control. They opened up the half on an 8-0 run to take the lead, and after that, they never looked back. The Hawkeyes completely dominated, and ended up winning the game 83-71. It was a great game to watch, with many ups and downs. This has been a great start for the Hawkeyes Big Ten Season, and going to games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena are really exciting. With this team's success along with the football team's amazing season, it has been a great year to be a Hawkeye.