Penn State wrestling preview: Time, TV info for No. 1 Lions match with No. 2 Iowa; lineups and more

Penn State wrestling is again set to put its perfect record, and top-ranking, on the line on the road.

The No. 1 Nittany Lions travel to No. 2 Iowa tonight. Head coach Cael Sanderson’s team has already topped No. 3 Michigan this month. Now, it will look to quiet a raucous Carver-Hawkeye Arena to close out the January portion of their schedule.

“The dual meets are a lot of fun to go in and wrestle the other teams in the conference and nation at their home venue or our home venue,” Sanderson said Tuesday. “And then, seeing a kid you have to beat if you want to be a national champion down the road, I think it’s positive all the way around.

“It’s important to see where you’re at and then continue to improve. That would be the game plan this year: Wrestle great on Friday but continue to wrestle better as the season goes on.”

How to watch, follow Penn State-Iowa

Tonight’s dual will be televised by the Big Ten Network. It starts at 9 p.m. ET and can also be streamed on BTN+ for those that have the subscription service.

Program play-by-play voice Jeff Byers will also call the match from matside in Iowa City. The LionVision page will have the radio stream.

Also, the team’s official Twitter account posts bout-by-bout updates, and we’ll be discussing it all here on The Wrestling Room forum.

What is the weekend’s biggest question for Penn State?

Will the Lions rise to the occasion again?

Penn State, when healthy, has its strongest lineup of the season from top-to-bottom at this point. That’s thanks to the additions of Drew Hildebrandt at 125 pounds and Brady Berge at 165.

It’s been no guarantee that all 10 starters are available, however. So, that will be something to watch closely once the weigh-in sheets are in. And, the same goes for the Hawkeyes.

It’s been a busy month for Sanderson’s team, which has met the moment in every big match so far this season. Now, we’ll see if it is ready to do so again. There is no reason to expect that it will not be to go from the opening whistle.

Beyond that, we’ll see who the staff decides to go with at 157. It’s expected to be either Terrell Barraclough or Tony Negron. We’ll give the nod to the former but won’t be surprised if the latter ends up taking the mat.

Bout before the match that’s drawing the most hype

To say you could take your pick here and not be considered wrong is the understatement of the century.

Every bout but 157 will feature a matchup of ranked foes.

For this section, we’ll point to 133 pounds. No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young will meet No. 3 Austin DeSanto there. It has the makings of a dual-shaping matchup, assuming things start at the traditional 125-pound spot. Penn State doesn’t need bonus points here but it does need a win, and the Hawkeye crowd will be pushing hard for one themselves.

We also considered 125 for the tone-setting reason. No. 7 Drew Hildebrandt holding serve against No. 11 Drake Ayala is a must but no guarantee. Another consideration went to 141 pounds. We’re hopeful both No. 1 Nick Lee and No. 2 Jaydin Eierman are healthy enough to wrestle. If so, it could easily be looked back on as the bout of the night.

As you can see, there’s a reason it’s almost impossible to make a wrong choice here. We didn’t even mention the 1-2 showdown between Carter Starocci and Michael Kemerer at 174.

Expected Penn State, Iowa matchips

Courtesy of Penn State Athletics. Lions wrestlers are in the bold-face tupe.

125: No. 11 Drake Ayalya vs. No. 7 Drew Hildebrandt

133: No. 3 Austin DeSanto vs. No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young

141: No. 2 Jaydin Eiermin vs. No. 1 Nick Lee

149: No. 19 Beau Bartlett vs. No. 10 Max Murin

157: Terrell Barraclough OR Tony Negron vs. No. 12 Kaleb Young

165: No. 11 Brady Berge vs. No. 5 Alex Marinelli 

174: No. 2 Michael Kemerer vs No. 1 Carter Starocci

184: No. 17 Abe Assad vs. No. 1 Aaron Brooks

197: No. 4 Jacob Warner vs. No. 2 Max Dean

285: No. 5 Tony Cassioppi vs. No. 3 Greg Kerkvliet