Iowa men’s wrestling prepped for matchup against Michigan
The No. 2 Hawkeyes will host the No. 9 Wolverines on Friday at 8 p.m. inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa’s No. 9 165-pound Patrick Kennedy shoves Nebraska’s Bubba Wilson’s head into the mat during a wrestling meet between No. 2 Iowa and No. 11 Nebraska in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday Jan. 20, 2023. Kennedy won by major decision, 12-4. The Hawkeyes defeated the Cornhuskers, 34-6.
February 9, 2023
The No. 2 Iowa men’s wrestling squad will host No. 9 Michigan on Friday at 8 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The dual meet will be televised live on BTN with Jon Gibbons and Shane Sparks on the call.
Iowa is 13-1 on the season, while Michigan is 9-3 overall with losses to Penn State, Ohio State, and Oklahoma State. The Hawkeyes lead the all-time series against the Wolverines, 33-26-1, and have won nine of the last 10 meetings.
Friday’s dual meet will be headlined by two top-10 matchups at 165 and 285 pounds.
Iowa’s top-ranked Spencer Lee is projected to face No. 18 Jack Medley. Lee is 2-0 all-time against Medley, with an 8-1 decision in the 2020 dual meet and a 19-3 tech fall at the 2020 Big Ten Championships.
The Hawkeyes’ 16th-ranked 133-pounder Brody Teske is projected to face 12th-ranked Dylan Ragusin, who is 12-6 on the season. Ragusin lost by decision to Penn State’s top-ranked Roman Bravo-Young, 4-2, and Ohio State’s ninth-ranked Jesse Mendez, 3-1, in sudden victory. Ragusin got pinned by Oklahoma State’s second-ranked Daton Fix on Feb. 3.
Teske is coming off a win against Minnesota’s Jake Gliva on Feb. 3. Teske scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds of the match to win, 4-3. The victory moved him to 5-1 on the season. Teske was pinned by Bravo-Young in 6:49 on Jan. 27 for his lone loss of the season.
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At 157 pounds, Iowa’s 14th-ranked Cobe Siebrecht is predicted to wrestle his fifth consecutive ranked opponent, No. 9 Will Lewan. Lewan is 14-4 overall while Siebrecht is 9-3 and 5-2 against ranked foes this season.
Iowa’s 165-pound Patrick Kennedy is ranked seventh by InterMat this week — the highest ranking of his career. He is projected to face either fourth-ranked Cameron Amine or unranked Alex Wesselman. Amine did not wrestle in the Wolverines’ last two dual meets against Oklahoma State and Maryland.
The Hawkeyes’ 16th-ranked Nelson Brands is on the projected bout sheet at 174 pounds and is projected to face No. 28 Max Maylor. Brands did not wrestle against the Gophers on Feb. 3.
The 184-pound starter for Iowa on Friday is still up in the air. Assad has not wrestled since he was pinned at the Wisconsin meet on Jan. 22. Freshman Drake Rhodes, who has competed in four varsity dual meets this season, can only wrestle attached five times without burning his redshirt. Rhodes is 1-3 overall and just one of six freshmen that have competed varsity this season for the Hawkeyes.
“With the health of where we are at in the [184-pound] weight class, we have to be really really smart that we do not burn his redshirt,” said Iowa head coach Tom Brands at a press conference on Wednesday. “But we also have to put an able competitor out there. We’re getting to the nitty gritty, and we have two dual meets left. So, how do you put a 184-pounder on the mat if it’s not Abe Assad? We have to be smart, and we have to figure something out.”
Third-ranked heavyweight Tony Cassioppi, who did not wrestle in Iowa’s 18-13 victory over Minnesota on Feb. 3, is projected to face top-ranked Mason Parris.
Cassioppi is 0-3 all-time against Parris. Parris pinned Cassioppi in the 2020 dual meet in 4:31 and at the 2021 Big Ten Championships in 53 seconds. Then at the 2022 NCAA Championships, Parris beat Cassioppi by decision, 11–5.
