Who: #5 Iowa 9-0 (4-0) vs #1 Ohio St. 9-0 (4-0)
Where: Columbus, Ohio | Schottenstein Center
When: Sunday, January 21st, 2018 2:30 PM (Central)
Watch: Televised on BTN
A battle of B1G titans will be going down this Sunday when the #5 ranked Hawkeyes take to the road to challenge the top ranked Buckeye team in their home arena. This will be a clash of two undefeated teams, both in conference and out of conference, which means somebody will be dealt their first tally in the loss column this season. On paper, the Buckeyes are favored in this matchup featuring 10 ranked wrestlers in their entire lineup compared to 6 for the Hawks.
The dual will once again kick off with fireworks featuring #9 Spencer Lee taking on #3 Nathan Tomasello. Both competitors have faced limited competition thus far this season but both are coming off impressive wins over All-Americans in the past week. Tomasello techfalled the returning NCAA finalist Lizak from Minnesota and Lee knocked off returning fourth place All-American Nick Piccinnini of Oklahoma State. This match will definitely set the stage for the B1G tournament and likely play an important factor in seeding come the NCAA tournament.
The next two matchups at 133 and 141 will favor the buckeyes on paper as the buckeyes have undefeated #2 ranked Luke Pletcher at 133 against UR Paul Glynn. Pletcher doesn’t have a very high bonus rate so though there is a large ranking disparity, bonus may not be automatic. At 141 we’ll see UR Carter Happel or UR Vince Turk facing off against #11 Joey Mckenna, a recent transfer for the buckeyes. Mckenna is coming off of a loss to Thorn and will look to get back on the right track, like Pletcher, McKenna’s bonus point rate isn’t high and the bucks should be favored for a decision victory.
#5 Iowa vs #1 Ohio State
125: #9 Spencer Lee vs #3 Nathan Tomasello
133: UR Paul Glynn vs #2 Luke Pletcher
141: UR Carter Happel / Vince Turk vs #11 Joey McKenna
149: #2 Brandon Sorensen vs #6 Ke-Shawn Hayes
157: #2 Michael Kemerer vs #7 Micah Jordan
165: #8 Alex Marinelli vs #12 Teshaun Campbell
174: UR Joey Gunther vs #3 Bo Jordan
184: Mitch Bowman vs #2 Myles Martin
197: #5 Cash Wilcke vs #1 Kollin Moore
285: #3 Sam Stoll vs #1 Kyle Snyder
Full Preview is available on our wrestling affiliate site, IAwrestle.
