For freshman shooting guard Matt Thomas, he’s seen Hilton Coliseum plenty of times in his life.

He’s been on multiple recruiting visits and has seen at least double digit games, coming even before ISU coach Fred Hoiberg and his staff started recruiting him.

For the first time on Sunday against Augustana, though, Thomas will hit Hilton’s hardwood floor instead of a seat in the front of the student section.

“I can’t wait,” Thomas said. “I’ve watched quite a bit of games there, so I’m excited to finally get a chance to step on the court and play in front of the great fans.”

In the weeks leading up to the team’s first exhibition game Thomas has had to get acclimated to the different aspects of the college game: the pace, the physicality, even the players themselves.

The recruit that was lauded for his shooting ability has made the most significant strides on the opposite side from where Cyclone fans will expect to see his picture-perfect shooting form — the defensive end.

His coach has been pleased with what he’s seen in his top-ranked recruit along with fellow consensus top-100 recruit Monte Morris defensively.

“[Matt is] a kid that can create space to get open and obviously he moves well without the ball, guys are hunting him on screens trying to get him open,” Hoiberg said. “He’s improving on the defensive end and that’s where he’s [grown] the most in my opinion from the first practice to where we are today.

“I’ve been very impressed as far as what he and Monte as far as what they’re picking up on the defensive end and then applying it out on the court.”

Even though it’s an exhibition game Sunday, it’s still a debut for a number of Cyclone players, including Morris, who said he’ll treat it like any other game.

“I know it’s an exhibition game, but [for] me personally, it’s my first debut in Ames and on the college level so I’m going to treat it like a regular game,” Morris said. “I’m going to go out and try to have fun early and play my game.”

Hoiberg is used to having freshmen play significant roles in his lineups, from Melvin Ejim in Hoiberg’s first year to Georges Niang starting for most of the season last year.

Thomas and Morris are expected to continue that trend this season.

“Obviously Georges had a huge role for us last year, you know starting with Melvin in his freshman year and starting from day one and I think that’s what you’ll see with Matt and Monte,” Hoiberg said. “They’ll both have big roles for us early on in the season and it’ll be very important for those guys to get out and establish themselves as rotation players for the entire season.”