A week ago, Iowa wrestling got flattened by #1 Penn State in the most-hyped dual meet of the season. On Friday night, the #3 Hawkeyes seemed like they were headed to a second-straight Friday defeat against #7 Nebraska -- until Stephen Buchanan and Ben Kueter took the mat in the final two matches of the night. Buchanan's dramatic late pin and Kueter's major decision turned a 16-9 deficit into a 19-16 Hawkeye victory.
The win was Iowa's 16th straight dual meet win over Nebraska; the Hawkeyes have never lost to the Cornhuskers since they joined the Big Ten. In fact, Iowa's last loss to the Huskers was in 2005, a pre-Tom Brands time.
This was one of the closest duals in the 20 years since that defeat; Iowa led after just one match in the dual -- the final one. Upset losses at 174 and 184 put Iowa in a significant hole heading into the final two matches of the night. Down seven with two matches to go, Iowa needed bonus points in those final two bouts to get another win -- fortunately for the Hawkeyes, Stephen Buchanan absolutely understood the assignment, setting up Ben Kueter to have an opportunity to win the meet for Iowa at 285.
Given the matchups, the most likely route to an Iowa victory was to keep things close in the first half of the dual and make use of matchup advantages in the second half of the dual. Early on, that was indeed how things played out, with Nebraska and Iowa alternating wins up to intermission.
Nebraska got on the board at 125 with a narrow 2-1 win by #8 Caleb Smith over #26 Joey Cruz. While Cruz came up short, it was another solid effort from him, as he showed a good attacking pace and was able to get to Smith's legs often, though he struggled to complete those shots. Smith took the win with an escape and a ride-out in the third period.
#3 Drake Ayala tied the dual with a 4-2 win over #15 Jacob Van Dee at 133. After a scoreless first period (a recurring theme in the meet), Ayala was finally able to get to Van Dee's legs and finish his shot in the second period. Ayala added an escape in the third period, but went into defend-first mode after that. It worked this time, but Ayala is one of Iowa's best finishers and the Hawkeyes needed all the points they could get in this meet.
Nebraska retook the lead in the dual with its first and only bonus point win of the night, a 14-3 major decision by #6 Brock Hardy over Cullan Schriever. After a slow start, Hardy really picked up the attacking tempo in the second and third periods and not only locked up one-sided win, but made sure he contributed bonus points to Nebraska's tally as well.
The match of the night followed at 149, with a top-4 showdown between #4 Kyle Parco and #2 Ridge Lovett. The match had yet another scoreless first period, featuring a lot of tie-ups and hand-fighting. Lovett chose down to start the second period and grabbed an escape to take a 1-0 lead, while Parco chose neutral in the third to avoid Lovett's considerable skills as a top wrestler.
His decision paid off when he was finally able to complete an attack, locking up a pair of double underhooks and using a trip to get Lovett to the mat. A Lovett escape made it 3-2, but he never seriously threatened Parco from neutral.
Nebraska wrapped up the first half of the dual with another close win at 157, with #4 Antrell Taylor edging freshman Miguel Estrada in a 4-1 decision. Another scoreless first period, another set of traded escapes, another third period takedown that decides the match -- this time in Nebraska's favor, as Taylor scored a slick takedown late in the bout.
After intermission, Nebraska and Iowa continued to alternate wins in the first two matches, starting with an Iowa win at 165. #2 Michael Caliendo dispatched #8 Christopher Minto with a very workmanlike 5-1 decision. It lacked the fireworks of most of his wins this year, but it was still a solid win -- something which was in short supply for Iowa at times in this dual.
Case in point: 174 and 184, back-to-back Nebraska upset wins over Iowa. The blueprint for Iowa beating Nebraska involved taking care of business in the upper weights, which... did not happen at 174 or 184. At 174, #6 Patrick Kennedy dug a deep hole early in the match, going down 10-1 to #14 Lenny Pinto.
Kennedy bounced back with an offensive surge of his own that cut the lead to 11-10, then used some impressive mat skills to ride Pinto for the entire second period. That put him in a good position in the third period, but he wasn't able to complete the comeback with another takedown. Instead, he got caught by a late bull rush by Pinto, who blasted Kennedy off his feet and put him on his back, scoring a takedown and four near fall points as time expired to ice the win.
184 was another match where Iowa was favored on paper, with #5 Gabe Arnold taking on #8 Silas Allred. The match was yet another to feature a 0-0 first period and traded escapes in the second and third periods. Though the score was even, the action wasn't -- Allred was the aggressor throughout and got in deep on Arnold on multiple occasions.
Arnold showed good defense to fend off those attacks, but did not show much in the way of strong attacks himself. In fact, a poor Arnold attack in sudden victory led to a counter-attack from Allred that got him deep on Arnold's legs and led to the match-winning score.
Those consecutive defeats put the Hawkeyes in a 7-point hole (16-9) and left them needing not just wins from #1 Stephen Buchanan and #11 Ben Kueter, but bonus point victories. Like Kennedy and Arnold, they were both favored on paper; unlike their teammates at 174 and 184, they were fully able to take advantage of those matchups.
197 didn't start out promising on the bonus point front, with another 0-0 first period, but Buchanan finally got through #20 Camden McDaniel's defense (and stalling) with a pair of takedowns in the second period. Once the takedowns started flowing for Buchanan, the dam broke and he was able to put together an impressive attacking flurry that had him up 17-4 with time running down in the third period.
Despite being visibly tired, Buchanan didn't stop pushing for more points and that attack attack attack mindset was rewarded in spectacular fashion, with a whip-over takedown that put McDaniel on his back and resulted in a pin -- with eight seconds to spare in the match. In a must-win moment, Buchanan delivered a win in the biggest and most spectacular way possible.
Buchanan's win cut the Nebraska lead to 16-15, but Iowa still needed a win from Ben Kueter at 285 to win the dual. Kueter was the clear favorite against #21 Harley Andrews, but he still needed to seal the deal. Andrews nearly struck first in the opening period with a shot that put Kueter on the mat, but Kueter managed to come out on top of the ensuing scramble.
Kueter rode out Andews for the remainder of the first period, then added another two minutes of riding time in the second period, which put him in a very solid position to earn the win. Andrews was able to ride Kueter hard for almost the entire third period (without coming particularly close to getting any near fall points), before Kueter was able to maneuver Andews into a reversal in the final seconds to get his major decision.
Late wins by Buchanan and Kueter not only saved Iowa's 20-year winning streak over Nebraska, but they somewhat salvaged what was often a relatively flat performance by the Hawkeyes. There were a lot of slow starts to the matches in this dual, with multiple matches featuring 0-0 first periods and takedowns were in short supply for Iowa overall.
Ayala and Caliendo have been two of Iowa's best wrestlers all season and consistent sources of bonus points, but weren't able to add to those totals here. Parco wrestled a smart and effective match against a difficult opponent at 149 and Buchanan and Kueter effectively maintained pressure on their opponents and got needed bonus point wins, but those bonus points were needed because Kennedy and Arnold had faltered at 174 and 184. Arnold's struggles from neutral -- his second straight bout where that's been on display -- raise some concerns for the rest of the season as well. The dual win was good, but the Hawkeyes leave this meet with plenty of things to work on.
NEXT: #3 Iowa goes back on the road to celebrate Valentine's Day at #8 Minnesota next Friday, February 14 (8 PM CT, BTN)
