Huskers Primed for East Coast Showdown with Rutgers

#6 Nebraska Cornhuskers 9-3 (3-2) at #14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights 8-4 (2-2)

Friday, Feb. 1

6 p.m. CT

Piscataway, N.J.

Rutgers Athletic Center

Live Streaming: BTN Plus

Live Stats: TrackWrestling

 

The Matchup:

The #6 Nebraska Cornhuskers hit the road on Friday night as they travel to Piscataway, N.J., to take on the #14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Huskers are 1-1 on the road in Big Ten play and 2-2 overall in true road duals.

 

How to Follow:

Friday’s matchup will be televised on BTN Plus and FloWrestling. Live stats will be available on TrackWrestling.com and updates will be posted on Twitter (@HuskerWrestling) and Facebook (@NebraskaWrestling) throughout the evening.

 

Scouting Rutgers:

• Head Coach: Scott Goodale

            • Career Record: 169-66-1 (12th year)

            • Record at Rutgers: 169-66-1 (12th year)

 

            • 2018-19 Record: 8-4 (2-2 Big Ten)

            Wins (8): Centenary, Fresno State, Johnson & Wales, Appalachian State, Hofstra,

            Rider, #10 Wisconsin, Michigan State

            Losses (4): Utah Valley, at #8 Minnesota, #3 Oklahoma State, at #4 Iowa

 

Rutgers Nuggets:

• The Scarlet Knights have produced eight All-Americans in the past five seasons, and since 2009, have earned two top-10 finishes and seven top-25 finishes in the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll.

• Rutgers has two returning All-Americans in Nick Suriano (133) and Anthony Ashnault (141). A former Penn State transfer, Suriano finished as the national runner-up at 125 pounds last year before moving to 133 pounds as a junior.

• #2 Anthony Ashnault (149) missed the 2017-18 season due to injury, but is a three-time All-America honoree (2015-17) at 141 pounds. Now in his sixth year of eligibility, Ashnault is a perfect 17-0 and wrestling at 149 pounds as a senior.

 

All-Time Series:

Nebraska leads the all-time series against Rutgers 4-1-0. NU won the first three duals before Rutgers took their first in the series in 2016.

 

Last Year’s Meeting:

The 18th-ranked Huskers rallied to knock off No. 16 Rutgers by a score of 19-13 after winning the last four matches by decision. NU trailed 13-7 with just four bouts to go, but consecutive decisions by Jason Renteria (133), Chad Red Jr. (141), Colton McCrystal (149) and Tyler Berger (157) sealed the win for Nebraska.

 

Nebraska’s Projected Starters:

125: #13 Sr. Zeke Moisey (9-6)

133: R-Fr. Tucker Sjomeling (11-5) -OR- Fr. Jevon Parrish (13-7)

141: So. Chad Red Jr. (12-8)

149: Jr. Jordan Shearer (7-5) -OR- Jr. Collin Purinton (8-6)

157: #2 Sr. Tyler Berger (17-2)

165: #6 Jr. Isaiah White (11-3)

174: #9 R-Fr. Mikey Labriola (16-4)

184: #5 So. Taylor Venz (15-3)

197: #12 So. Eric Schultz (16-6)

285: #14 Jr. David Jensen (11-2)

 

Rutgers’ Projected Starters:

125: So. Shane Metzler (7-10)

133: #5 Jr. Nick Suriano (15-2)

141: Jr. Peter Lipari (7-8) -OR- So. Michael Van Brill (4-4)

149: #2 Sr. Anthony Ashnault (17-0)

157: #15 Sr. John Van Brill (14-8) -OR- Fr. Jake Benner (6-5)

174: So. Joe Grello (10-6) -OR- So. Anthony Olivieri (4-8)

184: Jr. Willie Scott (13-5)

197: So. Matthew Correnti (11-9)

HWT: Jr. Christian Colucci (10-8)

 

Top Matchups to Watch:

Although there is only one top-20 matchup scheduled to take place on Friday night, there are several other matches that could have a significant say in which team wins the dual. Rutgers has three wrestlers ranked in the top 20 of the InterMat rankings, while Nebraska has eight.

 

            157: #2 Tyler Berger (NEB) vs. #15 John Van Brill (RU)

            174: #9 Mikey Labriola (NEB) vs. Joe Grello (RU)

            184: #4 Taylor Venz (NEB) vs. Willie Scott (RU)

 

Big Ten Wrestler of the Week (3x):

• For the third time this year, a Husker wrestler has garnered Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors. #4 Taylor Venz (184) earned the award after pinning #2 Emery Parker of Illinois on Sunday.

• #6 Isaiah White (165) and #9 Mikey Labriola also won the award on Dec. 4 and Nov. 13, respectively.

• Prior to this season, the last Husker to earn Big Ten Wrestler of the week was Robert Kokesh in 2014-15. NU is tied for 1st in the Big Ten with Penn State in Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors this year.

 

Berger Climbs Rankings, Garners National Attention:

• After winning his 105th career match against Illinois’ #12 Eric Barone on Sunday, redshirt senior Tyler Berger sits four wins away from entering the top-15 in the all-time wins list at Nebraska.

• Berger has defeated three out of four top-ten opponents he’s faced this year. He went on the road to defeat NC State’s #4 Hayden Hidlay, beat Northwestern’s #2 Ryan Deakin on Jan. 6, and held off Ohio State’s #6 Ke-Shawn Hayes at the Cliff Keen Invitational. He suffered his first top-10 loss of the season against Penn State’s #1 Jason Nolf, who defeated him in a 10-4 decision.

• After his win over Deakin, Berger earned both the OpenMat Wrestler of the Week award and the USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week.

 

Schultz Gaining Respect Nationally:

• NU sophomore Eric Schultz is ranked as high as the No. 5 wrestler in the country in OpenMat’s updated rankings after he just missed knocking off #1 Bo Nickal from Penn State on Sunday, losing in an 8-6 decision.

• Schultz is third place on the team in dual takedowns with 38 and ranks fourth in dual points with 28.

 

Parrish Burns Redshirt, Earns First Dual Victory:

• True freshman 133-pounder Jevon Parrish burned his redshirt on Jan. 12 against the #14 Northern Iowa Panthers.

• Despite losing his first match that night, Parrish responded with his first dual victory on Jan. 18 against Maryland. He took down Orion Anderson in a 9-5 decision.

• After this weekend, the Olathe, Kan., native holds a 13-7 record (1-3 in duals). He recently won the Cusatis Open on Jan. 5, but that will likely be the last open tournament he competes in this year.

 

Red Searching for Marquee Victory:

• Now 12-8 on the season, returning All-American Chad Red Jr. (141) is looking to build momentum heading into the final few weeks of the season before postseason play begins.

• The sophomore from Indianapolis, Ind., has had a couple heartbreakers lately. He’s dropped one-point decisions to #6 Nick Lee of Penn State (5-4), #4 Mike Carr of Illinois (4-3) and #8 Josh Alber of Northern Iowa (6-4). He’ll have two chances for a huge victory, one on Friday night against Peter Lipari and one on Sunday against Iowa’s #15 Max Murin.

 

Isaiah Remains White Hot:

• Junior Isaiah White qualified for the NCAA Championships last season in his first year as a Husker. He hit adversity early in the 2018-19 season, however, winning just one of his first four matches.

• Since his 1-3 start, White has won 11of his past 12 matches, including five bouts against top 20 opponents. He’s earned three major decisions and won the other eight by decision. His best win came in the semifinals of the Cliff Keen Invitational, when he defeated #5 Logan Massa of Michigan.

 

Venz Responds to Losses with a Vengeance in 2019:

• Taylor Venz made an instant impact upon entering the Huskers lineup last fall after a redshirt season in the year prior. The 184-pounder went 29-9 and earned All-America honors after finishing fourth at the 2018 NCAA Championships.

• Venz started the season 10-0, including winning his first five matches at the Cliff Keen Invitational. He fell in championship to No. 1 Myles Martin of Ohio State, 11-5, for his first loss of the year.

• After losing to Martin, Venz dropped his next two matches after that in top 15 showdowns with UNC and NC State.

• Since 2019 began, Venz has won all five of his matches. He’s won one by tech. fall, two by pin and two by decision. Most recently, he pinned #2 Emery Parker of Illinois, his biggest win of the season.

 

Closing in on Milestones:

• #2 Tyler Berger (157) has 105 career wins. He’s just four wins away from being in the top 15 all-time at Nebraska.

• #9 Mikey Labriola (174) carries a 16-4 record into this weekend. The redshirt freshman from Easton, Pa., is 12 wins away from breaking the top 10 for wins as a freshman.

• #16 Zeke Moisey (93-42) is just seven wins away from reaching 100-career victories. He’s 9-6 overall at Nebraska in his redshirt senior year. His other 84 wins came in his first four years at WVU.

 

Last Time Out:

The #6 Nebraska Cornhuskers defeated the #13 Illinois Fighting Illini 30-9 on Sunday afternoon in Lincoln. Illinois jumped out to a 9-0 start before the Huskers took the final seven matches to win the dual. NU won four of the last seven bouts by bonus points, including pins by Berger (157), Venz (184) and Jensen (285).

 

Up Next:

Nebraska returns to Lincoln for a quick turnaround to host the #3 Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday, Feb. 3 at noon at the Devaney Center. Last time the Huskers hosted Iowa in Lincoln, they set a new attendance record for a home dual with 3,952 fans in attendance.

 

Tickets:

Tickets are on sale at Huskers.com/tickets or by phone at 800-8-BIGRED.