NEW YORK – Despite working a five-five match split, including a win from Billy Janzer (184) over a top-15 opponent, No. 23 Rutgers wrestling (8-5, 3-4) lost to No. 25 Michigan (6-3, 5-1), 21-16, on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Scarlet Knights worked four consecutive victories out of intermission to take a 16-15 lead heading into the final match at heavyweight, but a pin from UM's No. 2 Mason Parris coupled with bonus-point wins at 141 and 149 pounds secured the dual for the Wolverines.
 
The event at 'The World's Most Famous Arena' was a part of the Big Ten Conference's annual Super Saturday event, as men's basketball faced Michigan in the night cap.
 
Janzer worked a 3-1 decision over No. 15 Jelani Embree for his team-leading 12 dual victory of the season, while No. 10 Sammy Alvarez (133), Brett Donner (165), Willie Scott (174) and No. 19 Jordan Pagano (197) all collected wins against Michigan. Scott secured bonus points for RU with his major decision over Max Maylor.

"I'm proud of everyone, but our upper weights in particular bounced back in the match," said head coach Scott Goodale. "Guys like Willie Scott filling in for Joe Grello who will be back soon. It's good to see Brett Donner get two in a row now, he wrestled well. I'm proud of those guys. A huge win by Billy Janzer of course over the No. 15 guy in the country and Jordan Pagano with a big win. It was encouraging to see."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• After a loss at 125 pounds from No. 16 Nicolas Aguilar (125), Alvarez faced Austin Assad. Tied 2-2 in the third period, Alvarez landed a takedown for a 4-3 lead and rode out Assad for the duration of the period, eating away at Assad's riding-time point to secure the 4-3 decision. Alvarez is now 20-6 this season, which includes an 8-4 mark in dual action.
• Rutgers dropped its next three bouts, including a tough 5-3 loss from Michael VanBrill (157) to No. 8 Will Lewan at the buzzer as the Scarlet Knights went into intermission down 15-3.
• RU began to eat away at the team deficit, beginning with Donner against Tyler Meisinger. Donner landed three takedowns in his match, including two in the final period for the 8-3 decision, his second consecutive conference win.
• Working the majority of his match from the top position, Scott collected two takedowns, a reversal and six points of near fall against Maylor. His four-point tilt in the closing seconds of his match sent the RU faithful wild and narrowed the deficit to just 15-10.
• Janzer faced Embree in the lone ranked-vs.-ranked match of the afternoon. The match went to sudden victory after a 1-1 tie in regulation, but a reversal from Janzer in the first tie breaker period was the difference in his 3-1 decision. It was Janzer's second ranked victory of the season.
• Pagano faced Jackson Striggow with a chance to give RU its first lead of the day and he delivered. The redshirt senior hit a takedown in the first period and followed with an escape and stall call in the second. He then used another escape point and riding time to close out his 5-4 decision to give Rutgers a 16-15 lead heading into heavyweight.
 
No. 25 Michigan (6-3, 5-1) 21, No. 23 Rutgers (8-5, 3-4) 16
Match Start: 125 Pounds
 
125: NR/NR/23 Jack Medley (UM) over 18/16/14 Nicolas Aguilar (RU) by decision, 2-1; UM leads 3-0
133: 9/10/9 Sammy Alvarez (RU) over Austin Assad (UM) by decision, 4-3; Score is tied 3-3
141: NR/NR/31 Cole Mattin (UM) over Zach Firestone (RU) by major decision, 11-3; UM leads 7-3
149: 9/11/8 Kanen Storr (UM) over Gerard Angelo (RU) by tech. fall, 17-1 (5:34); UM leads 12-3
157: 9/8/14 Will Lewan (UM) over Michael VanBrill (RU) by decision, 5-3; UM leads 15-3
165: Brett Donner (RU) over Tyler Meisinger (UM) by decision, 7-3; UM leads 15-6
174: Willie Scott (RU) over Max Maylor (UM) by major decision, 13-2; UM leads 15-10
184: 20/23/25 Billy Janzer (RU) over Jelani Embree (UM) by decision, 3-1 (TB2); UM leads 15-13
197: 19/19/20 Jordan Pagano (RU) over Jackson Striggow by decision, 6-5; RU leads 16-15
285: 2/2/2 Mason Parris (UM) over Alex Esposito (RU) by fall, 1:16; UM wins 21-16
 
UP NEXT
Rutgers returns to New Jersey to face Illinois on Friday, Feb. 7 for a 7 p.m. match at the RAC.

Quotes
Head Coach Scott Goodale
 
Opening Statement: "Another 5/5 split, I'm proud of our guys though. It's been a tough week coming off that Purdue match; you learn a little bit about your guys. A lot of adversity throughout the course of the week. Some sickness has been running through the program, obviously that's why we didn't have JoJo (Aragona). He suffered with it all week, and finally got back on the mat yesterday; it just probably wasn't the right thing to have him wrestle today. That's where we're at. We kind of knew after we lost 125, that it was probably going to come down to heavyweight where they have one of the best kids in the country so we're up against it. I'm proud of everyone, but our upper weights in particular bounced back in the match. Guys like Willie Scott filling in for Joe Grello who will be back soon. It's good to see Brett Donner get two in a row now, he wrestled well. I'm proud of those guys. A huge win by Billy Janzer of course over the number 11 guy in the country and Jordan Pagano with a big win."
 
On what needed to be done after losing 125: "I do this quite a bit, I look at it quite a bit (on paper). Of course, you have to wrestle the match, it's not done on paper, but I knew once we were done at 125, we were going to need an upset at 141, 149, or 157 with (Mason) Parris looming at the end. Once we didn't get one of those, I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, now you're looking for a fall from guys who are up against some really good guys. You can't give bonus (points) in this conference, in these dual meets; once you do, you're behind a little bit. It was a swing match at 125 and we just have to get back on track, we weren't able to capitalize and win that match, so that's where we're at."
 
On Nicolas Aguilar: "These freshmen, Billy (Janzer) included, I know they had a redshirt year, but until you go through it, it's a gauntlet. Everyone talks about the Big Ten (conference) and how tough it is; that's true. That guy over there might not be nationally ranked, he might be .500 in the Big Ten season, but he's really good. He's really good, and that's the whole conference. Every single week you have to bring it, and these young guys are kind of hitting a little of a wall. Maybe we have to do a better job of getting some more rest for the guys and sit them out of practice, we'll do that. As we get closer to peak for the Big Ten tournament, but right now he (Nicolas Aguilar) is our guy and he's our only guy, so he has to go. It would be great to have some depth where I could sit him one match, he could take some time off, but we don't have that. We don't have anyone, so he's up. We're going to stick with him, he's our guy."
 
On the basketball team supporting: "It was pretty cool. We were so close; Billy is on the mat and the basketball team comes in. I'm so fired up for Pikiell and his staff and his team. It's a really good situation right now, we're good where we're at in the APC with those guys and Vivian (Stringer) and team. There is a lot of good happening and you can feel that energy. They (the fans) started piling in a little bit more, getting ready for 4:30. I'm a fan, so I'm fired up for 4:30 too."
 
Redshirt freshman 184-pounder Billy Janzer
 
On heading into overtime: "I just train so hard every day, every day in the room we're wrestling. I'm not prepared to wrestle seven minutes; I'm prepared to wrestle 30 minutes if I have to. Every day, we preach that no matter what happens, just put your foot back on the line. All the time we talk about looking the way you want to perform. If I'm sitting there hanging my head and looking like I'm tired, I'm not going to wrestle my best, but if I put my foot on the line and look that guy in the eye, he knows that I'm ready to go. Everyone on the staff just preaches put your foot on the line and get back in there." 

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