MADISON, Wis. – It was an exciting night of wrestling with some very big wins for the Wisconsin wrestling team on Friday night in the UW Field House.

Despite dropping the dual 23-15 to the fourth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0 overall, 2-0 Big Ten), the No. 17 Badgers (3-1, 1-1) kept fans on their feet with thrilling victories for Johnny Jimenez, TJ Ruschell, Isaac Jordan and Connor Medbery.

"I think we just wrestled them a lot better than we did last year," head coach Barry Davis said. "I think you could tell early on from the tournaments. We had the chance to beat Ohio State in Las Vegas and we were within a five-point spread. The guys are doing a great job, we just don't have complete wrestling yet.

"We had our chances, but guys are seeing that now and we're getting a lot better. We need to do the right things and come ready to train. We're going in the right direction."

Jordan got the action going in the first match of the evening at 165 pounds. For the first time in two years, he did not have to face off with his Buckeye cousin, Bo Jordan, and had a new opponent in store in fellow Ohio native Cody Burcher.

After a quiet first period, the third-ranked Badger jumped back on top of Burcher, who escaped at the start of the second, with a takedown at the 27-second mark to take a 2-1 lead. Jordan started the third period on bottom and flipped Burcher for a reversal to secure the 4-1 victory. And it wasn't just any normal win for the two-time Big Ten champion. The win was a big milestone as Jordan picked up his 100th win for the Cardinal and White.

No. 2 Medbery kept the excitement going at heavyweight. Even though fans didn't get to see a highly-anticipated matchup between Medbery and the Buckeyes' front-man, Kyle Snyder, fans were graced with a dominant performance from the Badger.

Medbery honed in early on OSU's Josh Fox, tallying a quick takedown followed by four nearfall and then two nearfall less than 30 seconds later. The second period was no different with Medbery tacking on another takedown in the first minute and then finishing off the period with two more nearfall.

With a 12-0 lead at the start of the third, Medbery quickly escaped and then took down Fox one final time to finish off the 16-0 blanking. Medbery's tech fall helped to bring the Badgers within five, 13-8, of the Buckeyes at intermission.

Jimenez (125 pounds) made his triumphant return to the UW Fieldhouse after opting out of his redshirt season and picking up his first dual win of the season. Jimenez trailed 2-1 after the first period but came out with a bang in the final two periods of the bout. After tying it up after receiving the penalty points for locked hands, Jimenez knocked in seven-straight points in under 1:35 with an escape, takedown and four nearfall. He added four more nearfall at the end of the third for good measure to clinch the 14-2 major decision and bring UW within one point of OSU, 13-12.

However, Wisconsin would only get one more win on the night in the final bout.

It was a heated affair of family ties in the final match at 157 pounds. TJ Ruschell, the younger brother of assistant coach Kyle Ruschell, faced off with Jake Ryan, the son of Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan.

???????Ruschell came out of the gate firing, notching a quick takedown. Ruschell bounced right back after an injury scare and started down in the second and quickly escaped. He then tacked on a takedown at the very end of the period for a 5-2 lead after two. Ruschell rode out the third period and took the 6-2 decision from Ryan.

174-pounder Ryan Christensen kept it a tight match with No. 1 Bo Jordan through the first two periods, only trailing by two headed into the third. However, Jordan slipped away in the third adding a reversal and two takedowns to the scoresheet, giving him the 15-7 major decision.

At 184 pounds, Myles Martin won by tech fall over Jake Stilling. No. 2 Nathan Tomasello bested Michael Cullen with an 18-5 major decision at 133 pounds.

Both Ricky Robertson (197) and Andrew Crone (149) lost tough matches to two fifth-ranked wrestlers in Kollin Moore (197) and Micah Jordan (149), Robertson fell 12-3 while Crone lost an 8-2 decision.

Cole Martin battled OSU's Luke Pletcher in a tough back-and-forth clash (141 pounds) but eventually was edged, 8-4.

Wisconsin is back with double-dual road action next weekend. The Badgers first travel to Nebraska for a 7 p.m. tilt on Jan. 13 before facing Minnesota at noon on Jan. 15.

Attendance: 943
125: Johnny Jimenez wins over Jose Rodriguez. Major decision, 14-2
133: Nathan Tomasello wins by Major decision (18-5) over Michael Cullen
141: Luke Pletcher wins by decision over Cole Martin. (8-4)
149: Micah Jordan wins by decision over Andrew Crone. (8-2)
157: Timothy Ruschell wins by decision Jake Ryan. (6-2)
165: Isaac Jordan wins by decision over Cody Burcher. (4-1)
174: Bo Jordan wins by major decision over Ryan Christensen. (15-7)
184: Myles Martin wins by tech fall over Jacob Stilling. (22-6)
197: Kollin Moore wins by major decision over Ricky Robertson (12-3)
Hwt.: Connor Medbery wins by tech fall over Josh Fox. (16-0)