The 2023 Big Ten Tournament got underway in Ann Arbor this morning with the first round and the quarterfinal round, with mostly positive results for Iowa. The Hawkeyes went 8-0 in the first round (plus two byes) to put all 10 wrestlers into the quarterfinals. Iowa went 6-4 in the quarterfinal round after that and finished tied with Penn State for the lead after the quarterfinal round at 63.5 points.

Spencer Lee and Real Woods received byes in the first round.

Iowa wrestlers picked up bonus points in four of their eight wins, including major decision wins from Cobe Siebrecht, Patrick Kennedy, and Tony Cassioppi. Siebrecht used a takedown a 4-point near fall to open up a big early lead and remained in control. Kennedy worked a takedown clinic in his match, though he needed one more in order to get a technical fall. Cassioppi effectively smothered Emerson for seven minutes.

Max Murin received an injury default when MSU's Peyton Omania after Omania hit his head on the mat and appeared to concuss himself.

Teske, Brands, Assad, and Warner earned decision wins in the first round.

Iowa went 6-4 in the quarterfinals, and earned bonus points in four of those six wins. Spencer Lee got the session started with an emphatic 17-0 technical fall win in only two periods. Lee got a takedown and 4-point near fall tilt in the first period, then got an escape in the second period, followed by another takedown and two more sets of 4-point near fall tilts.

Real Woods and Tony Cassioppi each picked up first period pins in their matches after dominating their opponents. Patrick Kennedy was the fourth Iowa wrestler to earn bonus points with an 11-3 major decision win over Northwestern's Maxx Mayfield; Kennedy got at least one takedown in each period and three minutes of riding time.

Max Murin and Jacob Warner were the other two Iowa wrestlers to win in the quarterfinals. Murin picked up a 4-2 decision win, while Warner was able to grind out a 3-2 decision win at 197.

All four Iowa wrestlers who lost were defeated by higher-seeded opponents, but most of the matches weren't close. Teske dropped a lopsided 13-2 major decision to top-seeded Roman Bravo Young, while Abe Assad got pinned in the second period by Michigan's Matt Finesilver. Cobe Siebrecht's loss at 157 played out as the inverse of his win in the first round; Siebrecht got taken down and tilted to go down 6-0 early and wasn't able to mount a comeback. Nelson Brands lost a 5-2 match to Mikey Labriola.

Iowa and Penn State are tied for first in the team race with 63.5 points apiece. Penn State has seven semifinalists to Iowa's six; the Nittany Lions are favored in all seven semifinal matches, while the Hawkeye wrestlers are only favored in two (125 and 141). Iowa will need to pull upsets in order to keep pace with Penn State. Iowa and Penn State do have two head-to-head matches (197 and 285).

Lee is 2-0 lifetime against McKee, with a pin in 2021 and a 7-1 win at this year's dual.

Woods beat Tel Shahar by a 17-2 technical fall earlier this season.

Murin is 0-3 lifetime against Sasso, with a loss by fall in 2021 and 3-2 and 3-1 losses last season.

Kennedy and Amine have never wrestled before.

Warner is 0-3 lifetime against Dean, with 8-3 and 3-2 losses last season (the latter in the NCAA Tournament final) and a 2-0 loss earlier this season.

Cassioppi is 3-1 lifetime against Kerkvliet, with a 9-0 win in 2021 and 7-2 and 6-4 wins last year. He did lose 4-1 to Kerkvliet earlier this season.

Iowa also has four wrestlers competing in the consolation rounds.

The semifinal rounds begin at 6:30 PM CT with coverage on BTN and BTN+.