Wisconsin Badgers
Rutgers University
This Week in Wrestling: Feb. 5-7
February 04, 2016 | Wrestling
Wisconsin matches up with ranked Big Ten foes Rutgers and Minnesota
WHIRLWIND WEEKEND FOR WISCONSIN
- Wisconsin (1-5, 0-4 Big Ten) has a busy weekend slate, including conference duals at Rutgers (13-3, 3-2) and home against Minnesota (7-7, 3-3). The Badgers will take on RU at 6 p.m. on Friday before welcoming their rival Golden Gophers to the UW Field House on Sunday at 12 p.m.
- UW leads the all-time series with Rutgers, 2-0. Prior to the teams' first Big Ten matchup last year in which the Badgers narrowly won, 19-18, they met in 2000-01 with Wisconsin taking the dual by a score of 21-18.
- Ammasing a 97 results since 1919-20, the Badgers trail Minnesota in the all-time series, 36-60-1. Wisconsin has dropped the past three meetings, with its last win coming in 2010-11 (19-17).
| UW at #12 Rutgers / vs. #21 Minnesota | |
| Date | Friday, February 5 | 6 p.m. Sunday, February 7 | 12 p.m. |
| Location | Piscataway, N.J. | RAC Madison, Wis. | UW Field House |
| Watch | Rutgers | Minnesota |
| Updates | Live Stats | @BadgerWrestling |
| Notes | Wisconsin | Rutgers | Minnesota |
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NOTES TO KNOW
1 LAST TIME OUT: The Badgers are coming off their tightest loss of the season--a 21-13 result to No. 13 Illinois. Wisconsin was in the dual until the very last match, needing a technical fall to tie or a pin to win. Unfortunately heavyweight Brock Horwath came up short but head coach Barry Davis was pleased with the team's aggressivenss, especially early in the dual. "There are still things we have to work on," Davis said, "but the pace is better, the intesity is a lot higher and we're getting better on top." Johnny Jimenez gave the Badgers a 4-0 lead, picking up a 13-3 major decision victory over Francis Edelen. In the first of two matches that featured a pair of ranked wrestlers, No. 7 Ryan Taylor lost, 5-4, to second-rated Zane Richards. The Fighting Illini wrestler improved his record to 20-0 with the win. Prior to the result, Richards had won all but one match by three points or more. Isaac Jordan extended his unbeaten streak to 16 matches with a 5-2 decision over arguably his toughest opponent of the year to date, No. 6 Steven Rodrigues. Interestingly, entering the match Rodrigues' only other loss of the season came against Jordan's cousin and the second-ranked 165-pounder, Bo Jordan of Ohio State. Luke Rowh (141) and Andrew Crone (149) also picked up wins to improve their records to 8-11 and 9-7, respectively.
2 PREVIEW: RU is ranked No. 8 by FloWrestling, No. 12 by Intermat and No. 14 by WIN Magazine this week. Five Scarlet Knights are ranked this week by Intermat. Anthony Ashnault, ranked sixth at 141 pounds, owns the best record on RU at 18-2 overall and 12-1 in dual competition. RU seeks its seventh consecutive home win dating back to last season and third consecutive RAC victory. A win would also surpass RU's Big Ten win total from last season.
Minnesota has four ranked wrestlers, including No. 7 Tommy Thorn (141), No. 16 Jake Short (149), No. 3 Brett Pfarr (197) and No. 9 Michael Kroells (HWT). Thorn has the second-most wins on the team, posting a 26-7 record. He is 5-1 in conference play with his lone loss coming against Anthony Abidin of Nebraska on Jan. 10. Short is 10-6 on the year, earning wins over three ranked opponents. Pfarr has been Minnesota's most dominant wrestler in 2015-16. The junior is a remarkable 27-2 with 12 major decisions, three pins and eight ranked wins. 2015 All-American Kroells registers a 23-6 record. He has six major decisions and three triumphs over wrestlers appearing in the poll.
3 BADGERS-RUTGERS CONNECTIONS: Rutgers' associate head coach, Donny Pritzlaff, spent five years as the Badgers' associate head coach before assuming the same role at Michigan in 2011. Pritzlaff was instrumental in developing the Badger middleweight wrestlers, battle-testing notable performers under his tutelage such as NCAA champion and three-time All-American Andrew Howe, NCAA finalist Craig Henning and All-Americans Tyler Turner, Zach Tanelli and Kyle Ruschell. In all, 36 Badgers qualified for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in his tenure, a list that included 15 All-Americans, five Big Ten Champions and 19 Academic All-Big Ten members. As Wisconsin's recruiting coordinator, Pritzlaff also oversaw and contributed to the development of the program's future. He helped rally three top-20 recruiting classes according to InterMat, including the nation's No. 2 class in 2008 and the No. 4 class in 2011.
Last season, Isaac Jordan marked a technical fall to tie the Badgers' score with Rutgers. With third criteria in overtime (most team points by decision, major decision and technical fall), the Badgers finished their home season in a stunning 19-18 victory in the first tiebreaker since the rule was implemented.
4 JUST JORDAN:No. 3 Isaac Jordan has started the season with an unscathed 16-0 record, winning 165-pound titles at the Navy Classic and Cliff Keen Invitational. He continued that streak by grabbing his fourth victory over a ranked opponent--a 5-2 decision against No. 6 Steven Rodrigues of Illinois--on Jan. 31.
5 DU YOU: At the Duhawk Open on Jan. 30, all six Badgers that competed earned a placing of fifth or better. Michael Cullen went 3-2 to take fifth in the 133-pound weight class. At heavyweight, Ben Stone lost in the third-place match to take fourth. He went 4-2 at the event, picking up all of his victories by fall. Eli Stickley (141) and Mason Reinhardt (184) both took third in their respective weight classes. Of their combined nine wins (Stickley 5, Reinhardt 4), five of them came by major decision (one), technical fall (one) or pin (three). Cole Martin (141) and Hunter Ritter (184) received second-place recognition. Martin lost to Iowa's Vince Turk, 6-3, in the 141-pound championship, while Ritter was defeated by the Hawkeyes' Cash Wilke, 8-7.
Players Mentioned
