PREVIEW: ILLINOIS versus Maryland

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

WHAT: The ILLINI dual Maryland

WHEN: Friday, January 24 at 6:00 pm Central

WHERE: College Park, Maryland

TV/STREAMING: BTN+ (subscription service)

STREAK:  The ILLINI are 8-0 in the series

 

 

WHY WE HATE MARYLAND

I'm having a rage seizure thinking about this state. The name sounds like a cheesy amusement park or Putt-Putt course. Maryland was actually named after a lady who wasn't even technically a queen because she was the wrong religion and was never coronated and then fled England as soon as her husband's head was chopped off.  

Moreover, there's this phrase, "a bunch of Mary's." It refers to a group of men who won't fight or who don't fight well. Perfect. 

Finally, the state had THE IDEAL OPPORTUNITY to change its name. In 1776, there was a freaking revolution! You can bet that it was discussed at high-level meetings, and a bunch of Mary's probably chimed in with, "Well, it's already on all the stationery." 

 

THE RUTGERS MATCH

Maryland will only have one match this weekend. The ILLINI will have two. After traveling to College Park for that dual, they'll need to hit Piscataway, New Jersey for a dual with Rutgers on Sunday at Noon Central. ILLINOIS is 3-2 all time against the Scarlet Knights. 

In a tweet discussing the top tier of the conference, Shane Sparks gave them bulletin board material by putting the Orange and Blue above the team from Jersey. On the other hand, Wrestlestat.com is going with a 16-15 win for the bad guys. There will be great matches up and down the lineup, but wins from the Brawlnagels and Luuuuke Luffman will be key to victory. 

 

 

 

 

SCOUTING MARYLAND

The ILLINI are #13 according to Wrestle.com and have a 7-2 dual record with wins over SIUE (41-3), Binghamton (30-10), Arizona State (37-6), Missouri (23-14), North Carolina (24-14), Indiana (34-3) and Northwestern (33-7). The losses were to Ohio State (9-24) and Iowa (6-28). 

Maryland is 8-5, and for the first time, starts the B1G season 3-0. They have a team ranking of #28 on Wrestlestat.com. The Terps have wins over Kent State (29-10), Bucknell (26-11), American (38-0), Morgan State (43-3), Michigan (19-18), Michigan State (27-11) and Wisconsin (24-13). Losses were to Pitt (12-25), Rider (17-18), SDSU (7-27), Binghamton (10-28) and Columbia (18-19). 

We're not sure which dual box score would be the most relevant to our discussion, maybe the loss to common opponent Binghamton, but we know which one is the funniest, so we'll show the win over Michigan:

 

125: Christian Tanefeu major dec. (12-4) Tyler Garvin (Michigan 4, Maryland 0)

133: No. 14/15 Braxton Brown fall (5:45) Nolan Wertanen (Maryland 6, Michigan 4)

141: No. 12/9 Sergio Lemley dec. (6-3) Dario Lemus (Michigan 7, Maryland 6)

149: No. 29/32 Kal Miller dec. (4-3) No. 28 Derek Gilcher dec. (Maryland 9, Michigan 7)

157: No. 6/8 Ethen Miller dec. (4-2) No. 16/19 Chase Saldate (Maryland 12, Michigan 7) 

165: No. 26 Beau Mantanona dec. (6-4) Alex Uryniak (Maryland 12, Michigan 10)

174: No. 32 Branson John dec. (5-4) No. 25 Joseph Walker (Maryland 15, Michigan 10)

184: No. 13/11 Jaxon Smith dec. (4-1) No. 19 Jaden Bullock (Maryland 18, Michigan 10)

197: No. 3/2 Jacob Cardenas tech fall (15-0, 4:54) Chase Mielnik (Maryland 18, Michigan 15)

285: No. 10/12 Josh Heindselman dec. (4-2) No. 13/14 Seth Nevills (Maryland 18, Michigan 18)

• ***the Terps earned a point on criteria for the pin at 133, making the final score 19-18 in favor of Maryland

 

 

A DAY IN HISTORY

It's January 30, 2015.

At the movies, you can choose between American Sniper, Project Almanac and Paddington. You're thinking that Paddington would be so awesome if you were like four. Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift are playing on the radio. 

Not your cup of tea. 

But the day will turn out to be nearly perfect as you head to Huff Hall to catch the ILLINI wrestling team put a Chicago back alley beatdown on Maryland. You get to see Jesse Delgado and IMAR on the same team along with Zane Richards, Jackson Morse, Steven Rodrigues and Zac Brunson, all of whom were, or would become, All Americans, although seeing Delgado in that shoulder brace kinda makes you sad. 

How did that ILLINI team not win the NCAA tournament? 

The Maryland wrestling team must be thinking the same thing as they get beat 3-32. IMAR and Morse get tech falls, while Zane rolls up a major. It is a good day. Here's a link to the recap; the box score and video highlights are below:

 

#4 Illinois 32, Maryland 3

157: #2 Isaiah Martinez (ILL) over Lou Mascola (MARY) (TF 20-4, 4:32)
165: #8 Jackson Morse (ILL) over Tyler Manion (MARY) (TF 18-2, 4:15)
174: #8 Zac Brunson (ILL) over Josh Snook (MARY) (Dec 4-1)
184: #18 Nikko Reyes (ILL) over Tony Gardner (MARY) (Dec 6-2)
197: Jeff Koepke (ILL) over Rob Fitzgerald (MARY) (Dec 4-3)
285: Brooks Black (ILL) over #13 Spencer Myers (MARY) (TB1 2-1)
125: #1 Jesse Delgado (ILL) over Josh Polacek (MARY) (Dec 3-2)
133: #2 Zane Richards (ILL) over #16 Geoffrey Alexander (MARY) (MD 14-4)
141: #13 Steven Rodrigues (ILL) over Shyhiem Brown (MARY) (Dec 3-2)
149: Ben Dorsay (MARY) over Kyle Langenderfer (ILL) (Dec 3-1)

 

 

THE INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPS

125. #173 CAELAN RILEY vs. #165 Tyler Garvin. This is Caelan's time. Wrestlestat.com is predicting an 11-5 win for the kid from Lockport. That's not just a win, but a blowout!

Garvin is a true Freshman with a 4-13 recored and a current nine-match losing streak. He has beaten the #74 wrestler from American, though, so Caelan will need to be sharp. 

 

THE REST AT THIS LINK. 

[ionel]

Yeah but what about turtle strategy?  I hear once they roll over ... 

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

1 hour ago, ionel said:

Yeah but what about turtle strategy?  I hear once they roll over ... 

I once did a graphic about how the ILLINI shouldn't fear the turtle, they should kill the turtle! Can't find it now. Cheers and GO ILLINI!!!

[ionel]

Just now, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said:

I once did a graphic about how the ILLINI shouldn't fear the turtle, they should kill the turtle! Can't find it now. Cheers and GO ILLINI!!!

If you can't killed em just roll em over ... no need to fear em.  

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

RESULTS:

 

Weight	Matchup	Score
125:	Caelan Riley (ILL) dec. Abram Cline (MARY), 10-5	ILL 3 I MARY 0
133:	#4 Lucas Byrd (ILL) dec. #11 Braxton Brown (MARY), 7-3	ILL 6 I MARY 0
141:	#12 Danny Pucino (ILL) dec. Dario Lemus (MARY), 8-5	ILL 9 I MARY 0
149:	#12 Kannon Webster (ILL) over #32 Kal Miller (MARY), fall (4:39)	ILL 15 I MARY 0
157:	#6 Ethen Miller (MARY) major dec. #22 Jason Kraisser (ILL), 15-6	ILL 15 I MARY 4
165:	#13 Braeden Scoles (ILL) tech. fall Alex Uryniak (MARY), 20-3 (3:15)	ILL 20 I MARY 4
174:	#21 Danny Braunagel (ILL) tech. fall Branson John (MARY), 22-7 (5:24)	ILL 25 I MARY 4
184:	#13 Jaxon Smith (MARY) dec. #10 Edmond Ruth (ILL), 4-3	ILL 25 I MARY 7
197:	#18 Zac Braunagel (ILL) tech. fall Chase Mielnik (MARY), 20-4 (3:55)	ILL 30 I MARY 7
285:	#10 Luke Luffman (ILL) dec. #12 Seth Nevills (MARY), 4-2	ILL 33 I MARY 7

 

That was a whuppin'. Maryland started out 3-0 in the Big Ten, but that came to a screeching halt. Braxton Brown, Seth Nevills, Jaxon Smith and Ethen Miller are quality wrestlers. They just happened to wrestle at weights were the ILLINI have a better stud, or the ILLINI were good enough to keep the matches close. Close-ish in the Miller/Kraisser matchup considering Miller is ranked #6 and is undefeated now at 16-0. 

Luffman and Byrd are stacking top ten and top fifteen victories. 

I think Kal Miller is a darn good wrestler, but we got OG Webster tonight. Glad to see Caelan Riley get his first B1G dual win. He also accounted for multiple takedowns. That should help the confidence quite a bit. 

Big match with Rutgers on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how they respond to their PSU beatdown. GO ILLINI!!!*

 

*GO ILLINI intended in the most fair and impartial journalistic manner.