Here is a transcription from the post dual press conference after Iowa’s 30-7 dual victory over Oklahoma State. Content has been condensed in some instances.
Head Coach Tom Brands
Q: You have to be somewhat pleased with your team.
Brands:Yeah, there were a couple where we dug ourselves a hole and then dug ourselves out. 141 comes to mind. These matches are big for national rankings and seeding down the road.
184 is on my mind, I know we can do better there and I know our guy knows he can do better there as well. We don’t have to go in these positions (Speaking of the failed throw attempt by Brooks). At Rutgers we were in this position and got thrown and didn’t give up back points, but we did give up the takedown. We didn’t have to be in this position. We need to be doing what we do best and when we go to this position it’s off succession of flurries and you put the guy down.
You win eight matches in Stillwater, Oklahoma it’s good to build on and we got to keep moving forward. We got Illinois on Friday night, short week again. We get ready for that, we build and we get ready for that.
Q: Coach you asked for 1st period takedowns you asked for bonus points. They came out got eight first period takedowns and three bonus wins
Brands: Better. I think what you see out there because of that is the conditioning shows up in the scoreboard. Instead of a 2-1 OT win, now all of the sudden it’s 15-6, instead of 2-1 in the ride out. That’s important. When you put a guy on his heels with riding time against him and you’re ending periods on top. That’s where you want to be in tough matches.
We got a lot of work to do, this was a good performance, but we have to keep building off it.
Q: Where is Nick Moore at? Health-wise or?
Brands: He’s fine, we’re just doing the right thing. If he needs time off we’ll give him time off.
Q: Mental thing?
Brands:No, it’s no big deal.
Q: OSU doesn’t lose like that here very often. That has to make you feel pretty good the way your team came out and performed in a place where that doesn’t happen very often in this building.
Brands: That approach in how you attack a date on a calendar, your mindset as an individual competitor, I think a lot of that has to do with whether you are going on the road or not, whether you are going to tough places or not, whether your are wrestling tough teams or not.
We have a great makeup of guys who get ready to wrestle. For the most part we feel really good when our guys are ready to wrestle that we can take all comers. That’s not boastful. When there is a date on the calendar and there is an arena to go to, and where ever that match is that’s where we got to go. And when we go (to that arena), we have to be ready to go.
It does us no good to worry about whether we are wrestling on the road or not. That’s a built in philosophy. That’s not something we articulate on a daily basis, I just think it’s something that you do when you are a competitor.
Q: How big was Dziewa’s match?
Brands: He’s fired up. It’s one of those philosophies that it’s easier to go forward with success. He needs to have that kind of emotion. This will definitely help him, but only if he takes the bull by the horns and makes things go his way.
We got a match coming up with Illinois. We owe him. At the Midlands we stood around and waited, the guy took us down in the third, match is over. if we’re going to stand around for a match like that, it’s going to be a coin flip. We don’t like coin flips. Let’s go out and let it go.