Nathan Tomasello makes his senior debut under the lights in Big Ten action, as the Buckeyes face Maryland Friday night in College Park.
With a three-week holiday break and the easiest part of the season behind them, the Buckeyes are almost fully weaponized with Tomasello back in the lineup. The team kicks off the new year with a pair of road duals against the newest members of the Big Ten.
First up: an unranked Maryland on a three-dual losing streak.
Buckeye Breakdown
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3-4, 0-4 Big Ten Conference ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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7 P.M. – FRIDAY, JAN. 5 XFINITY CENTER COLLEGE PARK, MD. |
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BTN Plus Live Streaming ($) |
Tomasello's return after a 13-week injury-forced absence is the big news of the week. The former NCAA champion and three-time All American is critical to Ohio State's postseason aspirations. The unanimous No. 1 lightweight in the country sustained a knee injury at the U23 World Team Trials in early October that required surgery and the three-month layoff.
Fans will have to wait a little longer to see the full strength of Ohio State's arsenal, however. While NaTo will be back in action Friday night, Kyle Snyder is in Colorado Springs training with Team USA; he'll join the team in Piscataway, N.J., for Sunday's dual at Rutgers, but Tomasello will miss that meet after committing to stand in his best friend's wedding.
"I made a promise to my best friend that I'd be at his wedding," Tomasello told reporters Thursday in response to questions about why he wouldn't face No. 2 Nick Suriano at Rutgers. "I figure we're going to wrestle again at the Big Tens if not at Nationals. Man, I wish I could wrestle [Sunday] because I feel I'm ready to go against him."
Even shorthanded for much of the season, Ohio State is 6-0 in dual meet competition and handily won the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Most recently, the Buckeyes dominated Princeton and UT-Chattanooga prior to the holiday break.
In the latest Intermat rankings, Ohio State features three No. 1 wrestlers in Tomasello, Snyder and Kollin Moore, and three more in the top three. Te'Shan Campbell is the only Buckeye currently outside the top 10, currently clocking in at No. 11 in Intermat's rankings.
The University of Maryland Terrapins
Head Coach: Kerry McCoy
| Wt | Ohio State | Maryland |
|---|---|---|
| 125 | No. 1 Nathan Tomasello (0-0) | Brandon Cray (6-7) |
| 133 | No. 3 Luke Pletcher (16-0) | Jhared Simmons (1-8) |
| 141 | No. 6 Joey McKenna (4-0) |
Ryan Diehl (7-4) -OR- Peter Tedesco (1-6) |
| 149 | No. 5 Ke-Shawn Hayes (17-1) | Alfred Bannister (12-3) |
| 157 | No. 6 Micah Jordan (14-2) | Justin Alexander (4-6) |
| 165 | No. 11 Te'Shan Campbell (13-2) | Brendan Burnham (10-7) |
| 174 | No. 3 Bo Jordan (14-2) | Josh Ugalde (7-7) |
| 184 | No. 2 Myles Martin (16-0) | Niko Cappello (1-10) |
| 197 | No. 1 Kollin Moore (12-0) | Mansur Abdul-Malik (0-0) |
| HWT | Kevin Snyder (13-6) | No. 10 Youssif Hemida (14-1) |
Ohio State is undefeated versus Maryland, coming up victorious in the schools' first three outings. The Buckeyes first met the Terrapins in 2012, and hold an aggregate scoring advantage of 95-24.
Kerry McCoy is a hall of famer due to his success on the mats in his own wrestling days. He finished his Penn State wrestling career as a three-time All American, three-time Big Ten champion, two-time NCAA champion and the 1997 Hodge Trophy winner.
He is a two-time Olympian, and won five straight U.S. National freestyle championships prior to kicking off his coaching career with stints as an assistant at his alma mater and Lehigh, and three seasons as head coach at Stanford. He took the reins in College Park in 2008, where he's led the Terps to four top-20 finishes at the NCAA tournament and three ACC titles.
The transition to the Big Ten has proven quite the challenge, however. The team is 0-4 in conference this season, with losses to Rutgers, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Iowa already on the books.
Out of conference, the Terps are 3-0, having bested Campbell, George Mason and Stanford, the last coming by a single decision in a dual wrestled before Thanksgiving. Having finished just 12th in the Midlands Championship team standings to finish 2017, it's been a while since the team had much to celebrate.
Notable Maryland Wrestlers
No. 10 Youssif Hemida - 285 pounds
Expect to hear some grumbling on social media about this one, as Ohio State will miss its only opportunity to best a ranked opponent Friday night. With the elder Snyder still in Colorado Springs, "Little Orca" Kevin Snyder will face the top-10 ranked heavyweight, the only "bright spot" on a team struggling in conference.
Hemida, a junior from Mamoroneck, N.Y., has improved steadily over his first three seasons, going from 12-14 in his freshman campaign, to 23-13 last season, finishing seventh at the Big Ten tournament and qualifying for the NCAAs. This season he's 14-1, including seven wins by fall.
His one loss? To Arizona State's Tanner Hall, the No. 4 heavyweight in the country (yes, the one who was infamously pulled by Sun Devils' coach Zeke Jones ahead of his match against the elder Snyder early in the season).
Match Outlook
If Kyle Snyder was wrestling tonight, one might project a second shutout for the Buckeyes this season. With younger brother Kevin doing the heavy lifting, it's a closer thing.
Snyder is 13-6 in his redshirt campaign, but without any wins over ranked opponents. The two have faced only one common opponent this season, Indiana's Fletcher Miller: Snyder dropped a 3-1 decision, while Hemida pinned the Hoosier midway through the second period.
Beyond that match, the Terps only field three other wrestlers with winning records, and none who are ranked. A 9-1 finish seems fairly likely, as does the appearance of the team's coveted #PinChain.
Action begins at 7 p.m., and will be streamed live BTN Plus.
