Spartan Wrestling Edged by No. 24 Northwestern, 24-15

EVANSTON, Ill. - Michigan State's wrestling team couldn't get out of an early hole Friday, falling to No. 24 Northwestern, 24-15, inside NU's Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Spartans garnered wins at 133, 174, 184 and 285 pounds with one bonus point win on the night.

"No doubt we let one get away tonight," said MSU wrestling head coach Roger Chandler. "We talk effort, execution and finishing matches individually all the time. Tonight, we started off slow in the first five bouts and were reactive overall. The second five bouts, out guys went out and competed and gave full effort. We need to have all 10 guys do that in order to get the results we are looking for as a program."

The Spartans started at 133 pounds for the first time all season, where redshirt senior Garrett Pepple took on Dylan Utterback to start the dual. Utterback jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a takedown and two-point near-fall in the first period and Pepple answered with a four-point near-fall of his own as time expired to take a 7-4 lead after one. Pepple added an insurance point in the second period on his way to the 8-4 win.

The Wildcats would go on to win the next four matches and take a 17-3 lead into the break. At 141 pounds, Alexander McKenna scored a first period takedown and a near-fall for four points in the final period on his way to a 10-2 major decision over redshirt junior Matt Santos and No. 16 Yahya Thomas of Northwestern followed with a hard-fought 5-2 decision over Hrisopoulos at 149 pounds to give Northwestern a 7-3 lead. The Wildcats extended their lead after a major decision win by the No. 1 157 pounder in the country, Ryan Deakin, over redshirt junior Jake Tucker, 12-4.

Redshirt junior Drew Hughes returned to the lineup for the Spartans and took on No. 18 Shayne Oster at 165 pounds. Hughes took a commanding 6-2 lead with a takedown and four mat points in the second frame, followed by an Oster reversal. The third period was filled with drama as Hughes led 6-2 and had the top position for the final frame. Oster tried multiple times to get free of Hughes's hold, but Oster was awarded two stalling points in a row to cut the lead to 6-4. Hughes again was issued a stalling call to tie the match at six-all with Hughes holding the riding time advantage. Hughes again held strong on Oster, but Hughes was called for stalling again to give Oster the win by disqualifaction, after Hughes was called for stalling five times. With the win, Northwestern took a 17-3 lead over the Spartans.

Michigan State answered with wins at 174 and 184 pounds. Redshirt freshman Layne Malczewski took on No. 22 Tyler Morland in the 174 pound bout and No. 9-ranked redshirt sophomore Cameron Caffey took the mat against Jack Jessen at 184 pounds. With a little over 30 seconds gone in the first period, Malczewski landed a takedown and Morland was forced to retire after an awkward move to the knee to give Malczewski the injury default win. Caffey continued his hot streak, tallying his seventh win in a row, this time a 5-0 decision over Jessen. Caffey had a takedown in the first period and was awarded an escape, stalling and riding time point for the 5-0 shutout.

Redshirt junior Nick May hung around early with No. 13 Lucas Davison at 197 pounds, but fell by major decision, 12-2, to Davison to give Northwestern a 21-12 lead. Redshirt junior Christian Rebottaro put the Spartans back on the board with a 6-4 win at 285 pounds over Jack Heyob. Redshirt senior Logan Griffin landed three escape points on No. 11 Michael Deaugustino, but fell 6-3 to seal the 24-15 win for the Wildcats.

Up Next

Michigan State makes the trek to Madison, Wisconsin, to take on the No. 9-ranked Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m. ET. The dual will air live on BTN +.

No. 24 Northwestern 24, Michigan State 15

133 - Garrett Pepple (Michigan State) over Dylan Utterback (NW) (Dec 8-4), MSU leads 3-0

141 - Alexander McKenna (NW) over Matt Santos (Michigan State) (MD 10-2), NW leads 4-3

149 - No. 16 Yahya Thomas (NW) over Alex Hrisopoulos (Michigan State) (Dec 5-2), NW leads 7-3

157 - No. 1 Ryan Deakin (NW) over Jake Tucker (Michigan State) (MD 12-4), NW leads 11-3

165 - No. 18 Shayne Oster (NW) over Drew Hughes (Michigan State) (DQ), NW leads 17-3

174 - No. 23 Layne Malczewski (Michigan State) over #22 Tyler Morland (NW) (Inj. 0:41), NW leads 17-9

184 - No. 9 Cameron Caffey (Michigan State) over Jack Jessen (NW) (Dec 5-0), NW leads 17-12

197 - No. 13 Lucas Davison (NW) over Nick May (Michigan State) (MD 12-2) NW leads 21-12

285 - Christian Rebottaro (Michigan State) over Jack Heyob (NW (Dec 6-4), NW leads 21-15

125 - No. 11 Michael DeAugustino (NW) over Logan Griffin (Michigan State) (Dec 6-3), NW wins 24-15

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Logan Griffin

Alex Hrisopoulos

Drew Hughes

Layne Malczewski

Nick May

Garrett Pepple

Christian Rebottaro

Matt Santos

Jake Tucker