Tom Brands on Iowa win over Nebraska: 'Have to do a better job of scoring match points'

Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands didn’t mince words despite the No. 2 Hawkeyes beating No. 7 Nebraska 19-16 Friday night.

The Huskers nearly did everything right to pull off an upset and give Iowa their first loss. But Brands’ crew rallied late at 197 and heavyweight to stay unbeaten.

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But it wasn’t without Brands wanting more out of his team.

“We have to do a better job of scoring match points,” Brands said post-match. “Buchanan did a good job putting this into a position with that fall and Kueter ended it well, hey, good job. It’s like a 10 cylinder engine, and it’s running on pick your number, and we have to be running on 10 cylinders. 

“And that’s really all I want to say. And I’m not taking anything away from the drama. Wow. Draw it up, you know, and Keuter coming out, and he actually got a major decision. I don’t know if people realize that with that reversal, so, you know, I’ll take the approach of we gotta figure it out.”

Trailing 7-3 after the first three bouts, Iowa needed something and Brands got it in the form of Kyle Parco. The No. 4 man at 149 pounds knocked off No. 2 Ridge Lovett 3-2 to swing the dual back in the Hawkeyes’ favor.

But Nebraska went up 10-6 at the break with a decision win from Antrell Taylor at 157. From there, the Huskers were in good position after losing 165 to Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo, who beat Christopher Minto 5-1.

No. 14 Lenny Pinto and No. 8 Silas Allred upset No. 6 Patrick Kennedy and No. 5 Gabe Arnold, respectively, and Nebraska was up 16-9 with two bouts left.

That’s when the scoring happened, as Brands alluded to. He just wanted more than just a few guys. Stephen Buchanan turned on the jets at 197 and the No. 1 wrestler at the weight pinned No. 20 Camden McDanel in the third period.

No. 11 Heavyweight Ben Kueter followed it up with a major decision over No. 21 Harley Andrews to clinch the dual in a winner-take-all bout.

“I mean, the cylinder that’s running hot, 197 is running hot,” Brands said. “Love him. I can talk a long time about him. His character, his contribution to the team. He’s a transfer, (we) see eye to eye and a lot. I mean, you can keep going, but that’s not where I’m at right now. Where I’m at is we got to get more cylinders running in this 10 cylinder engine.”