Team looking ahead to Big Ten Championships

A crowd of nearly 500 people, the largest crowd of the season, arrived at University Gym for the IU wrestling team's final home meet of the year on Friday night. The raucous group loudly cheered every Hoosier point, but even the largest crowd of the season could not stop IU from going 0-2 against Iowa and Minnesota this weekend.\nFriday night the Hawkeyes came to town and were victorious in nine of 10 bouts, earning a 34-3 victory. Junior Coyte Cooper was the only Hoosier to score a victory by way of a 2-1 decision over Iowa senior Luke Moffit. \nThe Hoosiers were able to hang close in most bouts, six matches including Cooper's, were decided by five points or less. But in the end, the No. 2 Hawkeyes proved to be too much.\nThe Hoosiers had little time to dwell on the loss, however, as they left Saturday morning for a Sunday meet against the No. 3 Minnesota Golden Gophers. But, the Hoosiers fared only slightly better in their final meet of the year. The Gophers took six of the 10 bouts and won 25-17. \nBut with the regular season now at a close, the Hoosiers were still able to find positives to build on for the upcoming post season.\n"Every now and then we need a wake-up call," sophomore Pat DeGain said of the team's loss to Iowa.\nOne positive note for the Hoosiers was Coyte Cooper's continued dominance. Cooper proved worthy of his No. 12 ranking at 141-pounds by earning two tough wins. His second victory of the weekend, a 14-8 decision, came at the expense of Minnesota's Derek Phillips. After the Iowa meet, Cooper said he thought finishing the season against the two quality opponents would help the Hoosiers prepare for the Big Ten Championships and NCAA Finals.\n"Facing two of the best teams in the country I think will help us," Cooper said. "It will be good to wrestle two of the tougher teams before Big Ten Championships."\nOther Hoosiers showed toughness by shaking off difficult losses to their Iowa opponents and winning at Minnesota.\nSenior Ty Matthews, who lost to Iowa senior and No. 1 ranked Jessman Smith on Friday night, responded by beating Minnesota freshman Matt Nagel by virtue of a 17-1 technical fall on Sunday. \nFreshman Isaac Knable lost to Iowa freshman Joe Johnston on Friday.\n"We just have to learn form this," Knable said following the Iowa meet. "We just have to go all seven minutes. Everyone wrestled hard. We should have won more than we did." \nKnable showed that he was able to learn form Friday's meet by pinning Gopher sophomore Tyler Marr on Sunday.\nFreshman Brady Richardson could not overcome Iowa junior Tyler Nixt on Friday. But, Richardson recovered on Sunday by upsetting No. 20 ranked Gopher sophomore Josh McLay.\nThe Hoosiers will not compete for nearly two weeks. They will next see competition beginning March 8 in Madison, Wisc., where the Big Ten Championships will take place.