Rutgers wrestling looks for signature win against Minnesota

PISCATAWAY – A breakthrough win against one of the Big Ten Conference’s wrestling “Big Five.”

Rutgers University, ranked No. 13 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) poll, will be looking for that signature win Saturday, when it hosts No. 9 Minnesota at Jersey Mike’s Arena at 1 p.m. The match will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus.

The Scarlet Knights are 0-52-1 against the Big Ten’s “Big Five – Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State and Penn State. Rutgers is 0-30 against those five programs since it joined the Big Ten for the 2014-15 season.

Here is the breakdown against each of those schools:

Iowa: 0-5 all-time; 0-4 in the Big Ten.

Michigan: 0-9 all-time; 0-8 in the Big Ten.

Minnesota: 0-5 all-time; 0-5 in the Big Ten.

Ohio State: 0-9-1 all-time; 0-7 in the Big Ten.

Penn State: 0-24 all-time; 0-6 in the Big Ten.

Those programs have combined for 40 national team champions (24 by Iowa, 12 by Penn State, 10 since 2011, three by Minnesota and one by Ohio State.). Michigan has been the runner-up at the national tournament six times.

Rutgers will also be looking for its first win over a top 10 team in over five years. Its last top 10 win came on Jan. 11, 2019, when it defeated No. 10 Wisconsin 17-16 on criteria at Jersey Mike’s Arena

The Scarlet Knights (10-2, 3-1), coming off the 23-10 defeat at No. 11 Michigan this past Sunday, will wrestle their next three matches against “Big 5’’ teams. After the Minnesota match, they host No. 7 Ohio State Feb. 4 and are at No. 1 Penn State Feb. 12 in Penn State’s yearly match at its Bryce Jordan Center.

John Poznanski (197) is Rutgers’ only remaining unbeaten wrestler

More: Rutgers wrestling loses all the close ones in defeat to shorthanded Michigan

A win over Penn State (6-0, 3-0) is very unlikely, so the chance for that breakthrough win will have to come against either Minnesota (5-2, 0-2) or Ohio State (11-1, 3-0). Both will be tough matchups.

How they match up

The Golden Gophers, whose defeats are to No. 3 Iowa (22-9) and to No. 6 Nebraska (19-14 in a match that came down to the final minute of the last bout) have a wrestler, who is ranked in at least one national poll in nine of the 10 weights.

Rutgers would appear to be favored at 133, with Dylan Shawver;  174, with the red-hot Jackson Turley, 197, with unbeaten John Poznanski and heavyweight with Yarslau Slavikouski.

Minnesota is favored with the potential for bonus at 157, with Michael Blockhus, who is coming off wins over then No. 2 ranked Jared Franek of Iowa and No. 3 ranked Peyton Robb of Nebraska; 165, with redshirt sophomore Blaine Brener and 184, with Isaiah Salazar, who is coming of a win over then No. 3 Lenny Pinto of Nebraska.

Salazar also defeated Rutgers’ Brian Soldano 3-0 last year in a Big Ten Tournament wrestleback semifinal bout. Soldano was majored in both of his bouts last weekend.

Rutgers is 0-4 in Big Ten matches at 165 and 1-3 in conference matches at 157.

Key bouts

Swing bouts would appear to be 125, 141 and 149.

At 125, Rutgers’ redshirt sophomore Dean Peterson will likely wrestle two-time NCAA top five finisher Patrick McKee. McKee has lost his last three bouts against Rutgers’ wrestlers.

Peterson defeated McKee 6-4 last year in a NCAA third-round wrestleback bout and Shawver defeated McKee in Big Ten Tournament first-round bouts in 2021 and 2022.

McKee is coming off a win by technical fall over then No. 7 Caleb Smith of Nebraska.

The Scarlet Knights’ Mitch Moore, who was unbeaten until defeats to Michigan State’s Jordan Hamdan and Michigan’s Sergio Lumley last weekend, will likely meet redshirt sophomore Vance VonBaur at 141.

VonBaur wrestled Iowa’s returning national runner-up Real Woods tough in a 5-2 defeat on Jan. 15.

Rutgers’ redshirt sophomore Michael Cetta, who has won 11 of his last 13 bouts and is 7-2 in his last nine dual-meet bouts, could wrestle redshirt sophomore Drew Roberts at 149.

The Scarlet Knights have a chance, but they are going to have to win the bouts they are expected to win and win two of what appear to be three tossup bouts.

No. 13 Rutgers vs. No. 9 Minnesota

Probable lineups

Rutgers wrestlers listed first.

Rankings are from intermatwrestle.com and flowrestling.org.

125: 16/20 Dean Peterson (8-3) vs. 11/14 Patrick McKee (9-3)

133: 8/11 Dylan Shawver (16-4) vs. 26/23 Tyler Wells (9-2) or Jake Gilva (5-2

141: 20/15 Mitch Moore (10-2) vs. 21/23 Vance VomBaur (10-4)

149: Michael Cetta (11-4) vs. 13/NR Drew Roberts (13-4)

157: Al Desantis (5-9) or NR/29 Andrew Clark (6-4) or Jacob Butler (3-2) vs. 6/6 Michael Blockhus (9-1).

165: Anthony White (9-9) or Luke Gayer (9-8) vs. 29/NR Blaine Brener (13-7) or Hunter Lyden (7-3)

174: 13/17 Jackson Turley (8-2) or Shane Cartagena-Walsh (8-3) vs. Sam Skillings (8-4)

184: 22/24 Brian Soldano (10-6) vs. 6/6 Isaiah Salazar (13-1) or Max McEnelly (14-0)

197: 9/11 John Poznanski (12-0) vs. 24/26 Garrett Joles (12-6).

HWT: 7/7. Yaraslau Slavikouski (13-1) vs. 29/33 Bennett Tabor (14-4)

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers wrestling looks for signature win against Minnesota