Iowa State took a second straight massive victory on Monday night. A second half come back led to an Iowa State victory over Houston, their second straight win over a top-ten opponent.
The hero of the night was Nate Heise, who hit a clutch three to give Iowa State the lead late in the second half, and capped an epic day for the Heise family.
While Heise scored 11 points off the bench for Iowa State, including going three for three from behind the arc, and also adding six rebounds, he was not the only member of the family who had a big day. Earlier in the day, his sister Taylor Heise scored a goal in the 5-o Team USA victory over Sweden in the women's hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics.
Nate Heise no dip in the clutch pic.twitter.com/8R69EtO4RK
— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) February 17, 2026
Taylor scored just over nine minutes into the second period, making it 2-0 in favor of the United States in the semi-final matchup. It was her second goal of the tournament. Taylor had much of her family in the stands to watch her, but her brother was busy helping defeat Houston. Nate was asked about the family text group chat after the game, per ESPN.
“It'll be fun because I think they went to sleep before the [Iowa State] game started, so they'll wake up to some fun texts,” Nate said. “Obviously, it was cool earlier when she scored a goal and they won and they're on to the championship. So, pretty good day.”
His head coach, TJ Otzelberger, also made sure to praise him and his play after the contest.
“Of all the games from him as a Cyclone, tonight stands out as the one that was most elite,” Otzelberger said of Heise. “The confidence he's playing with is awesome.”
Iowa State is now 23-3 on the season, and 10-3 in conference play. Nate Heise and the Cyclones will return to the court on Saturday against BYU.
Meanwhile, Nate's sister will be looking to bring home a gold medal as Team USA faces Canada in the gold medal game on Thursday.
