There’s no environment to wrestle in like the one at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa freshman Abe Assad found that out first hand Saturday night.

Iowa head coach Tom Brands lifted Assad’s redshirt prior to Iowa’s Jan. 10 meet against Indiana, and let the true freshman go to work at Iowa’s 184-pound slot.

After two meets away from home, Iowa’s dual meet against Nebraska provided Assad with his first opportunity to wrestle at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“I think at first it’s just hard to wrap your head around how big it actually is,” Assad said. “When you walk out and there’s no one out there, that is a huge difference than when you see 12,000 people standing up cheering.”

Nebraska’s No. 5 Taylor Venz was Assad’s opponent in his first home meet in the Black and Gold. Venz scored an early takedown on Assad in the first period, and early in the second period he held a 3-1 lead.

Then Assad took over.

The Carol Stream, Illinois, native secured a takedown on Venz just before the end of the second period. With 45 seconds remaining in the match, Assad scored another takedown to clinch his first victory on his home mat.

“It’s indescribable,” Assad said. “I can’t really put it into words exactly. My favorite moment from the whole match was at the end of the second period when I got that takedown. He just stuck to the mat and didn’t move. I just heard the crowd and it was awesome. There’s nothing better than that. That’s what you put all those hours in for is moments just like that.”

Assad received lots of advice leading up to his Carver debut, including some from his two-time national champion teammate.

“I just told him that Carver is a hard place to wrestle,” Spencer Lee said. “But it’s great, it’s fun. The fans are amazing. The atmosphere is electric. You’ve just got to be relaxed and ready to go. It’s a big arena. It’s cold, it’s loud, you’ve got nerves. It’s hard for everyone.”

As the crowd of over 12,000 fans began to pour into Carver, Assad tried to take in the atmosphere and get a feel for what to expect during his match.

Brands walked Assad down the tunnel after weigh-in and out onto the mat, helping his 184-pounder get into the proper mindset. That mindset proved to be helpful.

Assad didn’t lose his composure after falling behind in his first home match, an impressive feat for a true freshman.

“[Assad] threw a headlock and the guy rolled through on it and we give up first takedown, then he digs himself out of a hole in his first time in Carver-Hawkeye Arena,” Brands said. “We walked him down before the meet. No big deal, just go wrestle, and that’s what he did.”

Assad secured his victory and the top-ranked Hawkeyes kept their dominant season going with another dual meet victory over the No. 7 Cornhuskers.

As someone who was only wrestling at the high school level last year, Assad is still trying to process what he’s accomplished in the past month.

“Even if you don’t say it, when you’re a young wrestler you want to wrestle at Carver,” Assad said. “It’s the biggest stage in college wrestling besides the [NCAA] finals. Everyone wants to be an Iowa wrestler at some point in their life. I had that same feeling for a long, long time. It was definitely surreal coming in here and wrestling.”