Top-10 showdowns will highlight Iowa wrestling's first visit to Wisconsin in four years
MADISON – The Big Ten wrestling season is unforgiving.
Three of the top five teams in the nation, according to the Intermat rankings, call the league home, including top-ranked Penn State. Go down farther and the conference has five of the 10 best teams. Eleven of the conference's 14 programs are in the top 22 this week.
The coaches rankings have 12 Big Ten teams in the top 25, including the top three: Penn State, Iowa and Michigan.
For a team off to a slow start like Wisconsin, that depth means that opportunity is usually just a dual away.
“Obviously, we’re in a little bit of a rut,” Badgers coach Chris Bono said. “We haven’t won a dual meet in a while and we're in the heart of Big Ten season, so it’s time to figure out what’s going wrong and steer that ship in the right direction.”
With a 0-3 record in tow, the ship heads back to the UW Field House for two duals against ranked opponents during the next few days. The Badgers, who are ranked No. 13 by Intermat, host No. 24 Purdue at 7 p.m. Friday (BTN+) and then welcome second-ranked Iowa at 2 p.m. Sunday (BTN).
Those teams will face a UW squad that is searching for answers. Since falling to top-ranked Penn State in the conference opener Jan. 6, the Badgers lost, 18-17, to No. 28 Illinois on Jan. 8. Wisconsin was bounced by No. 8 Michigan, 27-6, on Sunday, though that dual included three losses decided by three points or fewer and an upset of senior Eric Barnett at 125 pounds.
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“Up and down the lineup, it is one or two things,” Bono said of the team's struggles. “We’re not coming back home and trying to re-invent anything. It’s figuring out what went wrong in those matches and correcting our mistakes.”
The dual with Purdue projects three matches pitting two ranked opponents: Sixth-ranked Barnett vs. No. 10 Matt Ramos at 125; UW sophomore Joseph Zargo (No. 26) vs. No. 15 Parker Filius; and UW senior Garrett Model (No. 18) vs. No. 3 Kendall Coleman.
Iowa dual will feature three matches pitting top-10 competitors
The showdown vs. Iowa could pit two ranked wrestlers in seven of the 10 matches, including three top-10 showdowns: Barnett vs. three-time national champion Spencer Lee; second-ranked Austin Gomez vs. Iowa’s Max Murin (No. 7); and sixth-ranked Dean Hamiti vs. Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy (No. 10).
Despite both being seniors this will be the first time Barnett, who is 13-2, faces Lee, who is 8-0 and has a 46-match winning streak.
“Eric Barnett is going to have to go out there and take the fight to him,” Bono said. “Eric won’t back down. … To be the national champion, you have to beat the national champion.”
Gomez, a senior, comes into the duals with six wins over ranked opponents, including a 9-3 decision over No. 1 Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell. Gomez missed the Illinois match due to injury but has won seven straight matches.
“Austin likes the bright lights. Austin likes the hype," Bono said. "The bigger the match the better for Austin. I don’t think he’s competed against Murin, so if they put him out there expect a great Austin Gomez."
Hamiti, meanwhile, has three losses to top-10 opponents. Three of his losses have come by two points or fewer.
“I’m excited because this guy, Kennedy, is going to come in there and he’s going to wrestle D.J.,” Bono said. “And when people wrestle D.J., he’s a problem. It’s going to be great. It’s going to be a wide-open, firework match.”
The Iowa match will mark the Hawkeyes’ first trip to Madison since 2019. All 10 of their wrestlers are ranked.
It would be a great time for the Badgers to break out of their dry spell and set the tone for the final three Big Ten duals of the season.
“It’s going to be a packed house,” Bono said. (The Field House) has great acoustics. Four-thousand, five-thousand people in there sound like 15,000, so if we can get in a little bit of a roll, (if) we can do some special things and get the crowd involved, it’s going to be amazing.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin wrestling to host second-ranked Iowa in star-studded dual
