Iowa Travels To Wisconsin On Sunday With B1G Seeding Implications At 165
Iowa Travels To Wisconsin On Sunday With B1G Seeding Implications At 165
Evan Wick's third battle with Alex Marinelli is the marquee match on Sunday as Iowa and Wisconsin close out their Big Ten dual schedule.
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Iowa finishes up their Big Ten schedule this weekend, starting with senior day against Indiana at Carver Hawkeye on Friday. Two days later, they make the trip to Madison to close out their conference duals.
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Aside from rounding out the B1G portion of their slate, it's also the last chance for the guys in these matches to improve their seed for the conference tournament. In particular, Alex Marinelli can lock up a top two seed by once again beating Evan Wick.
It will be the second meeting of the year between #2 Marinelli and #3 Wick, and their third overall in college. Their first match was a dominant 16-3 win by Wick in the consi semis at NCAAs last year, which you can watch below. Then they met in the Midlands finals and Marinelli finished quickly on two takedowns in the first period and then did not get turned in the second and third periods to win 4-3.
They've had two drastically different matches, and this one will likely look nothing like the first two. Wick will have homefield advantage, which neither has had before since they wrestled in Cleveland at NCAAs and outside Chicago at Midlands.
It's pretty clear Marinelli has the advantage on his feet, which Mike Mal went over in the conversion time portion of his tech notes article before Midlands. That was very evident in the first period there: a three second finish and four second finish for Marinelli off two shots, and a 46 second non finish for Wick off his only shot.
Similarly, Wick's mat advantage was on display at Midlands, where he rode out Marinelli for the entire second period after choosing top, which then made Iowa pick neutral for the third. One difference between NCAAs and Midlands was that Marinelli finished the first period on top in Illinois while he gave up a late escape in Cleveland that left the match tied.
Another difference is that the second time around Marinelli did not let Wick lock his hands on his cradle. When that happened at the national tournament, the Hawkeye got turned for four twice and gave up stalling.
Both times Marinelli's had choice he's taken neutral, and both times Wick has chosen top. In each match, Wick scored two stall points in the third period. The first match they were with Wick on top and the second match they came from Wick attacking from neutral. Both times Wick has started on top, he's ridden Marinelli out for the entire period.
Looking at the other matches in this dual, the two other important ones come at 141 pounds and heavyweight. There's still a chance #8 Tristan Moran can get the two seed at Big Tens, but he'll have to make sure to beat #18 Max Murin first. Looking at common opponents from this year, Moran has beaten Josh Alber and Mitch McKee, while Murin took out Corey Shie.
Up at 285lbs we should see #6 Trent Hillger against #8 Sam Stoll. The redshirt freshman known as "Thor" has never faced Stoll but could prevent some matchup problems for the senior Hawkeye. He can move well on his feet and fire off enough leg attacks to keep Stoll off balance, which has always created issues for Stoll given his persistent knee problems in college. Additionally, Hillger has shown to be effective enough on top that he might be able to ride Stoll out or force him to take neutral.
The two other weights where the wrestlers have met before are 184 and 197. Cash Wilcke is 3-0 against Mason Reinhardt, with two of those matches coming at 184. He has increased the margin of victory each time, going from an overtime win to a two point win to an 8-2 victory in the Midlands semis.
On the backside of Midlands, Jacob Warner beat Beau Breske 5-3. Given Iowa's advantages at 125, 133, and 157, the dual will either be decided or Warner can slam the door with a win. At 149, the Badgers are ranked higher and #11 Cole Martin has the homefield advantage over #16 Pat Lugo. Martin has put up 70 points this season in matches against Division 1 opponents who aren't his teammates, plus six pins. Lugo has scored 95 points in just 11 matches starting at Midlands, but has just two falls on the year.
If Iowa wins as expected, they will enter the final weekend of the year with a 14-0 dual record. If Oklahoma State ends Missouri's 35-dual win streak on Saturday, that would mean both teams are 14-0 heading into the match in Stillwater. There, we'll see high profile matches at 125 and 133 as the Cowboys try to put 11,000 fans in historic Gallagher-Iba Arena to break their single season average attendance record.
Wisconsin Probable Starters
125: Ethan Rotondo
133: Jens Lantz
141: #8 Tristan Moran
149: #11 Cole Martin
157: Garrett Model
165: #3 Evan Wick
174: Ryan Christensen
184: Mason Reinhardt
197: Beau Breske
285: #6 Trent Hillger
Iowa Probable Starters
125: #2 Spencer Lee
133: #3 Austin DeSanto
141: #18 Max Murin
149: #16 Pat Lugo
157: #7 Kaleb Young
165: #2 Alex Marinelli
174: Mitch Bowman
184: #14 Cash Wilcke
197: #4 Jacob Warner
285: #8 Sam Stoll