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| IOWA at MICHIGAN |
| DATE | Saturday, Feb. 8 | 7:10 p.m. CT |
| LOCATION | Ann Arbor, Michigan | Crisler Center (13,751) |
| STREAM | BTN |
| LISTEN | Hawkeye All-Access | KXIC |
| LIVE UPDATES | @Hawks_Wrestling |
ON THE MAT
The University of Iowa wrestling team travels to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to face No. 22 Michigan on Saturday at 7:10 p.m. (CT) at the Crisler Center. The dual is televised on BTN.
THE SERIES — MICHIGAN
Iowa owns a 32-26-1 lead in the all-time series. The Hawkeyes had won nine straight against the Wolverines before losing, 19-17, on Jan. 27, 2018 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa is 14-13 all-time in Ann Arbor and has won its last three meetings at Michigan. Iowa head coach Tom Brands is 9-1 all-time against the Wolverines.
KEMERER TAKES OVER NO. 1
Senior Michael Kemerer took over the top spot at 174 pounds following his 11-6 win over then-No. 1 Mark Hall of Penn State on Jan. 31. It marked his fourth consecutive win, all against top 8 opponents.
Kemerer is ranked No. 1 for the first time in his career. He has been ranked as high as No. 2 this season, his first at 174 pounds. He competed at 157 pounds as a redshirt freshman and sophomore from 2016-18 and reached as high as No. 2 in the rankings both seasons.
Kemerer is 10-0 with six wins over ranked opponents. He was won 30 straight duals and has a Big Ten dual record of 23-1.
KEMERER NAMED B1G WRESTLER OF THE WEEK
Senior Michael Kemerer has been named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week on Feb. 4.
Kemerer was recognized following a pair of wins over the weekend, including an 11-6 decision against then-top-ranked Mark Hall of Penn State on Friday, and a 13-3 major decision against No. 23 Layne Malczewski of Michigan State on Sunday. His win against Hall helped No. 1 Iowa defeat No. 2 Penn State, 19-17.
The Big Ten honor is the third of Kemerer’s career, and the third for Iowa this season. Austin DeSanto earned the award Dec. 3 and Alex Marinelli was recognized Jan. 3.
FORCEFUL-LEE
Junior Spencer Lee was 5-0 in the month of January with five technical falls. He outscocred those six opponents 84-1.
Lee is among the nation’s leaders with eight technical falls. He has outscored his opponents 133-4 in those eight wins.
Lee won by major decision (16-5) in the season opener. It was the only match this season to go seven minutes. He has since won 11 straight by fall or technical fall. He has four first-period technical falls, and three first-period falls (0:54, 0:52, 2:21).
Lee enters Saturday’s dual ranked No. 1 at 125 with a 12-0 record.
LUGO PICKS UP WIN NO. 100
Senior Pat Lugo’s earned his 100th career win Jan. 31. He has a career record of 101-38, including a 63-18 mark at Edinboro from 2015-17, and a 38-10 mark at Iowa from 2018-20.
Lugo is 15-1 this season with six wins over ranked opponents, including three in the top seven. He is ranked No. 1 this week by WIN Magazine, No. 2 by Intermat and No. 4 by TrackWrestling. He is 6-1 this year and 18-10 all-time against ranked opponents.
He spent three weeks at the No. 1 ranking after opening the season with a 13-0 record. The No. 1 billing was the first of Lugo’s career. He has spent all season in the top 5 after finishing the 2019 season with an eighth-place All-America finish. Prior to the 2019 national tournament, Lugo had not been ranked higher than 10th.
BIG TEN & 0
Junior Spencer Lee (20-0) and redshirt freshman Tony Cassioppi (7-0) are undefeated in their careers in Big Ten duals.
Among Lee’s 20 Big Ten dual wins are eight falls (six in the first period), eight technical falls, and one major decision.
MERCY RULE
Junior Spencer Lee has won 23 career matches by technical fall, 40 percent of his 57 career wins.
Lee has eight technical falls this season, tying his career-high set as a freshman in 2017-18. He had seven technical falls as a sophomore in 2018-19. Since 1999-00, the first year technical falls were recorded in Iowa Wrestling media guides, the season-high for technical falls is nine, set by Doug Schwab in 1999-00. Schwab had 24 technical falls over a three-year period from 1998-00.
RUNAWAY TRAIN
Redshirt freshman Tony Cassioppi has opened the season with 15 straight wins. It is the most consecutive wins to open a season by a Hawkeye heavyweight since Bobby Telford won 18 straight in 2014-15. Telford was a senior in 2014-15. He finished 33-5 overall with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, securing his third All-America honor. Telford opened his redshirt freshman year with 14 straight wins.
Cassioppi has defeated seven ranked opponents, including two in the top 10. He is ranked third in the country, and his next two outings include probable matchups with No. 2 Mason Paris (Michigan) and No. 1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota).
REGULAR SEASON TITLE CHASE
Iowa can clinch a share of the Big Ten regular season title with a win Saturday. The Hawkeyes are 7-0 with a 1.5 dual lead over Penn State (5-1) and Michigan (5-1). A win Saturday would guarantee the Hawkeyes of no worse than an 8-1 Big Ten record. If team tie in conference standings, the regular season is share between those teams. There is no tiebreaker. Iowa can clinch the regular season title outright with wins at Michigan and at home against Minnesota on Feb. 15.
The Hawkeyes have won or shared the Big Ten dual championships 11 times since the conference started recognizing a dual meet champion in 1999. Iowa won the title outright in 2000, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015, and shared the title in 2003, 2014, 2016, and 2019.
The Hawkeyes have eight undefeated conference seasons since 2006-07, head coach Tom Brands’ first year.
