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Big-time performances buoy Iowa's comeback win vs #7 Nebraska

by:Tanner Lafever•about 12 hours•

TannerLafever

Stephen Buchanan
#1 Stephen Buchanan sent Carver-Hawkeye Arena into hysteria with his pin at 197 pounds to help Iowa defeat Nebraska. (Photo Credit: Iowa Wrestling Twitter)

Midway through Friday’s night’s dual between #3 Iowa and #7 Nebraska it looked for all the world like the Hawkeyes were set to pull away with a comfortable, albeit contested top-10 win.

That’s been the blueprint several times this year thanks to the rock-solid back-half of Iowa’s lineup.

Only this time that became very much in flux, as Nebraska threw a pair of variables into the formula that had the Hawkeyes in real danger of making the wrong kind of history.

(The kind of history that breaks an 87-year-long streak of not losing to the Cornhuskers in Iowa City.)

And then suddenly, a Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd sitting on pins and needles was brought roaring to its feet.

Why? Because a 197-pound stud named Stephen Buchanan delivered as big as one can in the biggest of moments.

The graduate transfer’s pin with eight seconds to go was the perfect remedy for some significant adversity. And his getting Iowa’s foot back in the ‘door’ of the dual – reducing a seven-point deficit to just one – set the stage for heavyweight Ben Kueter to both kick it open and slam it shut.

By night’s end, a wild back-and-forth Iowa/Nebraska matchup would go in favor of the Hawkeyes – just as it had in their previous 15 meetings under Iowa head coach Tom Brands.

Here’s how things unfolded to set the stage for one of the more memorable finishes in recent Iowa wrestling history.

Job done through 157

During my preview for this dual I categorized a quartet of Hawkeyes as needing to ‘do their job’ against Nebraska.

In some cases (i.e. 125/141/157) that may not have realistically included winning the match – but instead avoiding bonus points. In another (133) it meant not tripping up against a tricky, lower ranked opponent who’s sprung sizeable upsets before.

Iowa went 4/4 with those objectives on Friday night.

At 125 pounds, #26 Joey Cruz didn’t allow a single offensive point to #8 Caleb Smith. A third-period ride out for the Cornhusker proved just enough to get the dual-opening victory.

True freshman Miguel Estrada fought admirably in a likewise low-scoring bout at 157. The 149-pounder, stepping in for #3 Jacori Teemer, was in on a leg with 45 seconds left in a 1-1 match against #4 Antrell Taylor before the ‘Husker power through a reattack for the winning takedown.

Those narrow defeats, plus Cullan Schriever ‘only’ losing 14-3 to #6 Brock Hardy, significantly minimized the damage at Iowa’s most vulnerable weights.

Combined with #3 Drake Ayala wrestling a smart, if conservative match to beat #15 Jacob Van Dee, 4-2, and the Hawkeyes were right on track.

In fact, at intermission they were arguably ahead of schedule. Not only had jobs been done at 25/33/41/57, but at 149 another Hawkeye had delivered in a major way.

Déjà vu

Not to toot my own horn (again), but my dual preview was somewhat prophetic about 149 pounds, too.

(And by ‘prophetic’ I really just mean I was lucky enough to point out two previous matches that played out eerily similar to Friday night’s.)

For the third time in 365 days, #4 Kyle Parco wrestled #2 Ridge Lovett. And for the third time in 365 days, Parco did three things:

  • Score the bout’s only takedown
  • Choose neutral in the 2nd/3rd period
  • Win

That was the recipe for success when he was wearing an Arizona State singlet last season and it apparently carried right on over to Iowa City.

A cagey first period didn’t pick up until a nice exchange with 0:25 seconds to go. It’d continue shortly thereafter, too. Parco did well to scramble out of a reversal attempt by Lovett to open the second and was noticeably taking more ground throughout the period.

Those efforts paid dividends as Parco (after choosing neutral trailing 1-0) found his way to double underhooks early in the third. There, a foot-sweep attempt nearly bore fruit before Parco locked around Lovett’s body and horsed the 2022 NCAA finalist to the mat.

For the remaining 80 seconds the first-year Hawkeye smartly defended/positioned himself to complete the 3-2 victory.

A week after uncharacteristically fading in his first loss of the season, Parco responded in ideal fashion.

And though his series with Lovett may be getting repetitive from a box score standpoint, each meeting between the two high-level 149-pounders is anything but a sure thing.

Parco just continues to get it done.

Bananas back half sets up fantastic finish

As I mentioned previously, Iowa seemed for all the world to be in a good spot entering intermission.

Even trailing 10-6 in the team score, the Hawkeyes were favored by ranking at each of the five remaining weight classes. A slight ‘underperformance’ winning 4/5 would still be more than enough to win the dual.

They’d only need 3/4 following #2 Michael Caliendo’s 5-1 victory over #8 Christopher Minto at 165 pounds.

And that’s when craziness ensued.

I’m not sure that Patrick Kennedy has ever trailed 10-1 less than 90 seconds into a wrestling match. But that’s exactly what happened Friday, as #14 Lenny Pinto took PK to his back for an early seven-point sequence, then tacked on another quick takedown to stun the Carver crowd.

Fast forward 27 seconds and the deficit was basically gone as the sixth-ranked Kennedy took Pinto to his back for make the score 10-9.

All told, the pair tallied a combined 20 points in three minutes – a pace which proved unsustainable.

Kennedy spent the entire second period riding the ‘Husker before escaping to open the third – effectively tying the score at 11-apiece with riding time in PK’s favor.

Somehow, with all momentum against him, Pinto staved off Kennedy’s advances long enough to muster one final burst of his own – taking the Hawkeye feet-to-back (again) with eight seconds remaining to earn a wild 18-11 victory.

Disappointing though it was for both Kennedy and the 13,720 fans in attendance, Iowa was still in good shape.

But then it wasn’t…as Nebraska pulled another upset at 184 pounds.

Truth be told, #8 Silas Allred deserved the win over #5 Gabe Arnold too. The 2023 (197-pound) Big Ten champion got to legs several times after a slow start, finally converting the winning score in sudden victory.

Buchanan and Big Ben close with a bang

Now trailing 16-9, Iowa was in serious jeopardy.

Even if the Hawkeyes earned a major decision and a decision victory between the find two weights to even the team score, they’d still more than likely lose the dual on criteria given Nebraska’s then 47-30 advantage in total match points scored.

The surer, albeit more difficult route would be to avoid criteria altogether. And that meant one or both of Stephen Buchanan and Ben Kueter needed to whoop up on their quality opponent(s).

The favorite to do so was unquestionably Buchanan – ranked #1 at 197 pounds with bonus point wins in 12/15 matches so far this season. But even that seemed uncertain once a scoreless first period between he and #20 Camden McDanel had passed.

Finally, with 1:22 left in the second period Buchanan got his first takedown. And that was just the beginning…

Another reattack-plus-ride-out extended the Hawkeye’s advantage to 7-1 entering the third. Tack on a go-behind with 85 seconds left, 10-2.

With riding time in hand, a stall point against McDanel effectively made things 12-3 as the two restarted in the center circle with just 0:42 on the clock.

And then this happened:

Simply put, not only did the sixth-year senior refused to be denied, but he refused to give his team anything less than his very best in an effort to give that same team its own best chance at victory.

Now trailing by one, a win (of any sort) at heavyweight was all Iowa needed.

Ben Kueter knew it and Ben Kueter delivered – winning 8-0 over #21 Harley Andrews in a bout that turned on a decidedly un-heavyweight-like, first-period counter-takedown that flipped a would-be early deficit into a lead Kueter would never relinquish.

Iowa – 19, Nebraska – 16.

Short time

Look, Friday night was far from Iowa’s best performance.

Tom Brands said as much almost immediately after the dual during an interview on the Hawkeye Radio Network:

Even so, it also produced several memorable moments for Iowa wrestling fans old/new to carry forward – chief among them Buchanan’s pin at 197.

I said on social media that for as great as he’s been this season never more so has Buchanan epitomized the ideal of ‘Iowa wrestling’ than he did on Friday night.

Score first, score fast and keep on scoring – fatigue/opponent/adversity be damned.

There is no bigger fan-favorite on this Iowa team right now than Stephen Buchanan. And that’s because he doesn’t waste a single second that he’s out on the mat.

This is already a darn good Iowa team – now 11-1 (4-1 B1G) after downing the Cornhuskers. But for it to reach whatever its fullest potential may be, it’s going to take more guys emulating Buchanan’s match-to-match approach.

We’ll see who else might join him over the final two weeks of the regular season.

For now, the Hawkeyes were collectively good enough to beat Nebraska for the 16th-consecutive time. But I get the feeling their ultimate goals are several steps beyond that accomplishment.

We’ll see if they can realize them by season’s end in Philadelphia.

Full dual results

#3 Iowa – 19, #7 Nebraska – 16

125 – #8 Caleb Smith (N) dec. #26 Joey Cruz (I), 2-1

133 – #3 Drake Ayala (I) dec. #15 Jacob Van Dee (N), 4-2

141 – #6 Brock Hardy (N) major dec. Cullan Schriever (I), 14-3

149 – #4 Kyle Parco (I) dec. #2 Ridge Lovett (N), 3-2

157 – #4 Antrell Taylor (N) dec. Miguel Estrada (I), 4-2

165 – #2 Michael Caliendo (I) dec. #8 Christopher Minto (N), 5-1

174 – #14 Lenny Pinto (N) dec. #6 Patrick Kennedy (I), 18-11

184 – #8 Silas Allred (N) dec. #5 Gabe Arnold (I), 4-1 SV1

197 – #1 Stephen Buchanan (I) pinned #20 Camden McDanel (N), 6:52

285 – #11 Ben Kueter (I) dec. #21 Harley Andrews (N), 8-0

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