Looking ahead after Rutgers' loss to Michigan
The Rutgers sports teams were 0-2 at Madison Square Garden for the Big Ten Super Saturday event last weekend, as members of the wrestling team met the same fate on the mat as the members of the men’s basketball team did on the hardwood. The No. 23 Scarlet Knights (8-5, 3-4), now 0-5 all time against Michigan, fell to the No. 25 Wolverines (6-3, 5-1) 21-16 in New York City.
The meet ended in a five-match split. Rutgers was competitive throughout but lost its last match of the meet at heavyweight, when Michigan’s Mason Parris defeated the Knights’ sophomore heavyweight Alex Esposito.
A wrestler that has shown his potential for the future at numerous points this season, No. 9 true freshman 133-pounder Sammy Alvarez continued to impress on Saturday. He improved his record to 20-6 overall after winning the first match of the day for Rutgers, when he defeated the Wolverines' Austin Assad by a 4-3 decision. Alvarez has become someone head coach Scott Goodale can depend on moving forward.
Goodale expressed his satisfaction with the performance of his upperweight wrestlers at the post-match press conference. The Knights won all four matches coming out of intermission before their loss in the final match of the dual.
The two wrestlers that stood out last Saturday despite the team loss were junior 165-pounder Brett Donner and redshirt freshman 184-pounder Billy Janzer.
Donner, the Wall Township, New Jersey, native, won his second straight Big Ten matchup in a dominating performance. He beat Michigan’s Tyler Meisinger in a decisive 8-3 match where he scored three takedowns. Look for Donner to continue this recent success, as he seems to be doing some of his best wrestling when it matters most for his team nearing the end of the season.
Janzer, the Elk Township, New Jersey, native, notched what was probably the most impressive victory of the day for Rutgers when he beat No. 11 Jelani Embree of the Wolverines by a 3-1 decision in sudden victory.
Janzer scored a reversal in the first tie-breaker period that sealed the deal on his second win over a ranked opponent this season. Janzer was fired up about his overtime win, his team-leading 12th of the season, at the post-match press conference.
"I just train so hard every day, every day in the room we're wrestling,” Janzer said. "I'm not prepared to wrestle 7 minutes. I'm prepared to wrestle 30 minutes if I have to.”
Looking ahead, the Knights will host the Big Ten Championships on March 7 and 8 at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC).
But first, this Friday night at 7 p.m., Rutgers will welcome Illinois to the RAC and then finish off its Big Ten regular season slate with a home meet in Piscataway on Feb. 14 against Northwestern. The meet against the Wildcats (3-5, 1-4) is also at 7 p.m.
The remaining two away meets for the Knights will be against in-state opponents Rider and Princeton. Rutgers will face the Broncs (9-2, 5-1) in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, on Sunday Feb. 9 and then make the short trip to take on the Tigers (4-4) in Princeton, New Jersey, on Sunday Feb. 23. Both of these meets take place at 7 p.m.
For updates on the Rutgers wrestling team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
