Photo courtesy of Iowa State athletics communications.
AMES — “We’ve got guys who got black-and-gold ‘singletitus.’ I get it. I wore one and I saw guys crumble because of the color of singlet I was wearing.”
Those were the bold words of head coach Kevin Dresser following Sunday’s humbling 35-6 loss to No. 7 Iowa, which was one of Iowa State’s weakest performances of the season. There was little to no fight in a good number of the matchups.
The Cyclones only managed to gather one takedown in the entire dual.
Without a lot of positives – if any – from Sunday – where does the team go from here?
“Right now we just have to focus on getting as many guys to Cleveland as we can,” said Dresser. “Sometimes your best lessons aren’t in the practice room but we have to really excel in the practice room as well for the next ten days.”
Iowa State only scored six team points because Iowa made a game time decision to scratch its 197-pounder, Cash Wilcke. Hawkeye head man Tom Brands said Wilcke wasn’t feeling well and it was better for the team if he forfieted after being weighed in.
Dresser had some strong feelings on that decision saying it was “a chicken blank move”.
Head coach Kevin Dresser had some tough words on Iowa deciding to forfeit at 197. #CFTV #Cyclones pic.twitter.com/KdiA3dTawq
— CycloneFanatic.com (@cyclonefanatic) February 18, 2018
“The day will come when we even the score and this will be a dual meet,” said Dresser.
Looking to the immediate future, the Cyclones have 10 days in the wrestling room to prepare themselves to compete at the Big 12 championship. That will hopefully come with different results than this disappointing Sunday.
In late October, when Dresser met for media days before the first dual of the season he said, “We want to win now but we’re also realistic. We know what lies in front of us, this isn’t a 100 yard dash, if we’re going to build a solid, long-term program.”
