Northwestern, Jan. 27
The top-ranked team in the country didn’t turn in a top-level performance against Northwestern, and Tom Brands didn’t sound like a victorious coach.
Then again, this was the same guy who boldly declared the day he was hired two years ago that the days of wrestling just to win were over at Iowa. And just winning wasn’t enough to satisfy Brands against the Wildcats.
The Hawkeyes needed victories in the last two matches to put No. 10 Northwestern away for a 22-13 win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“They were not wrestling the way they were trained,” Brands said after his team won six matches and accumulated 15 takedowns. “There’s a lot of things you can point to, but I’m putting it on getting ready. I’m putting it on readiness and frame of mind and mental attitude and getting yourself ready to whip some tail when you walk out on that mat.”
Jay Borschel won a 3-1 decision against No. 12 Nick Hayes at 174 and Phil Keddy pinned Adil Kolovic to seal the eighth straight dual victory for the Hawkeyes.
Brands didn’t think the meet needed to be that close.
“The bottom line is, our guys have to get ready to go,” Brands said. “All we can say is we beat Northwestern 22-13. That’s all we can say. If you think things are going to be handed to you because you haven’t heard of a guy or he’s not on the radar or you can’t find video of him, hogwash, man. Hogwash.”
— Andy Hamilton