Wrestling Heads East for Showdown with Terrapins

Friday, February 4

College Park, Md.

7 p.m. ET

Michigan State University

Maryland

Rayvon Foley vs. Penn State on Jan. 23, 2022

Photo by: Tommy Massa/B1G Network

2/3/2022 12:00:00 PM | Wrestling

No. 17 Spartans resume Big Ten action after week off

#17 Michigan State (8-2, 3-2 B1G) at Maryland (5-9, 0-5 B1G)
Date: Friday, Feb. 4
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: XFinity Center Pavilion
Watch: Big Ten Plus
Notes: Michigan State | Maryland

EAST LANSING, Mich. – After an off-week in its dual meet schedule, the Michigan State wrestling team returns to the mat on Friday night, Feb. 4 when it travels to Maryland for a Big Ten battle with the Terrapins.

The Spartans' 7 p.m. showdown with the Terps kicks off the team's final stretch of dual matches, as No. 17 MSU will wrestle four times in 15 days before getting ready for the postseason.

Friday's match is slated to feature ranked bouts at 184 and 197 pounds. The dual will be streamed on Big Ten Plus with Mark McClure and Joe Gilpin calling all the action.

ABOUT THE SPARTANS

MSU entered its off-week after a span of four matches in nine days, a stretch that featured the Spartans going 3-1 in Big Ten action and picking up a pair of ranked wins.
The Green and White pulled off road victories at No. 12 Purdue and Indiana before coming home to upset No. 14 Rutgers, 20-17, in Jenison Field House and holding their own in a 28-9 loss against No. 1 Penn State.
Redshirt junior Layne Malczewski was the key factor in the win over the 14th-ranked Scarlet Knights, pinning No. 5/5 John Poznanski in 2:21 during the 197-pound bout. Following Malczewski, redshirt senior Cameron Caffey tallied 11 points in the third period against No. 12/6 Greg Bulsak to earn a 12-4 major decision over the Rutgers 197-pounder to secure the MSU victory, adding on to a major decision by sophomore Chase Saldate (157) and wins by redshirt senior Rayvon Foley (133) and sophomore Caleb Fish (165).
With top-ranked Penn State in town, the Spartans saw Foley get a win over Baylor Shunk and Saldate take down Terrell Barraclough in sudden victory, setting up Caffey's 3-2 winning decision over No. 2/2 Max Dean in the 197-bout that gave Caffey his third ranked win in four matches.
Caffey's pair of ranked wins earned him Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors, as the 19-7 pounder has won seven-straight matches dating back to the Southern Scuffle and sits at 10-0 in dual meets.
Malczewski's first-period performance over Poznanski garnered him the B1G Mat Return of the Week award on 'B1G Wrestling and Beyond', as his mat return of the Scarlet Knight directly led to his 2:21 pin and gave the Spartan his second ranked win in three matches.
Saldate now paces the team in wins (22), falls (6) and major decisions (7), while Foley's 21 wins are tied with Caffey for second-most and Foley also has a team-high four technical falls.
The three Big Ten dual wins for MSU this season is the most since 2018-19.

RANKING MICHIGAN STATE

MSU continued to move up the NWCA Coaches Poll, coming in at No. 17 this week. The team cracked the Top-25 on Jan. 18, being ranked 21st before moving up to No. 18 last week following the Rutgers and Penn State duals.
The Spartans are 17th in the NWCA rankings for the first time since the final NWCA poll of 2005-06 and the 2006-07 preseason poll.
Head coach Roger Chandler's squad had been receiving votes every week this season prior to Jan. 18, with MSU also being ranked in all but one week last season.
The team also holds Top-25 dual rankings from FloWrestling (#18), WrestleStat (#25), Intermat (#16) and WIN Magazine (#16). MSU sits No. 21 in WrestleStat's tournament rankings and No. 33 in the Flo tournament ranking.
In the initial NCAA Coaches Rankings for the 2022 National Championships unveiled on Jan. 21, five Spartans appeared in among the top-33 names in their respective weight class. Foley ranked No. 10 for the 133-pounders, while Saldate was No. 19 among 157-pound wrestlers, Fish came in 26th at 165 pounds, Malczewski ranked No. 21 in the 184 class and Caffey appeared at No. 16 for the 197-pounders.
Foley ranks as high as No. 9 this week on WrestleStat and the Open Mat, sitting 10th for WIN while ranking No. 11 on Flo and Intermat.
Ranking 17th on Intermat, Saldate also ranks No. 13 on WrestleStat and No. 19 on the Open Mat, earning honorable mention from FloWrestling.
Fish comes in at No. 30 on WrestleStat and earned honorable mention again from Flo.
Sitting as high as No. 13 on WrestleState, Malczewski is #19 on Flo and 23rd on Intermat.
Caffey bumped up to No. 8 on Intermat, being 3rd-ranked on WrestleStat and holding #10 based on Flo, The Open Mat and WIN.

SCOUTING MARYLAND

The Terrapins are 0-5 in the Big Ten after dropping home matches to No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 3 Michigan, holding an overall record of 5-9 in dual meets with non-conference wins over Drexel, Duke, Navy, Kent State and Chattanooga.
Kyle Cochran leads Maryland in the rankings, sitting No. 14 on FloWrestling and No. 13 on Intermat with an 18-5 record this season. Cochran claimed the 184-pound title at the Southern Scuffle, including a 6-4 win over then-No. 8 Hunter Bolen of Virginia Tech.
Ranked No. 23 on Flo and No. 26 on Intermat, 197-pounder Jaron Smith is coming off his biggest win of the season with an 11-9 sudden-victory decision over No. 8 Patrick Brucki during the Terrapins dual against Michigan. Smith enters Friday with a 15-7 mark for the campaign.
Cochran opened at No. 12 for 184 pounds and Smith ranked No. 28 at 197 pounds in the initial NCAA Coaches Rankings released on Jan. 21.

SERIES HISTORY

Friday will be the eighth all-time meeting between the two programs and the sixth matchup since Maryland joined the Big Ten.
MSU has a 6-1 edge in the all-time series, taking the last four dual meets.
The Spartans are 1-1 all-time in the XFinity Center Pavilion.
Last year's meeting in East Lansing ended in a 42-0 MSU victory to open the season as part of a tri-meet with No. 14 Minnesota. Highlighting the match were Foley's 17-0 technical fall over King Sandoval at 125 and Saldate pinning Lucas Cordio in 1:32 during the 157 bout.
Caffey at 197, Malczewski at 184, Brad Wilton at 285, Peyton Omania at 149 and Jordan Hamdan at 133 all picked up decisions in the dual as well, while then-freshman Tristan Lujan got a major decision in an extra 125 match.

UP NEXT
Michigan State returns home for a meeting with Northwestern on Friday, Feb. 11 (7 p.m.) before making the trip to Ann Arbor on Sunday, Feb. 13 for a showdown with No. 3 Michigan (Noon) to wrap up Big Ten dual action. Both matches will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus.

MICHIGAN STATE PROBABLE LINEUP
125: Tristan Lujan (SO | 8-8)
133: #11/11 Rayvon Foley (R-SR | 21-2)
141: Matt Santos (GRAD | 8-8)
149: Eddie Homrock (SO | 10-5) -OR- Peyton Omania (R-SO | 7-7)
157: HM/#17 Chase Saldate (SO | 22-3) -OR- Skyler Crespo (SO | 7-6)
165: HM/NR Caleb Fish (SO | 18-7)
174: Nathan Jimenez (R-JR | 7-11)
184: #19/23 Layne Malczewski (R-JR | 18-7)
197: #10/8 Cameron Caffey (R-SR | 21-4)
285: Brad Wilton (R-SR | 8-12)

MARYLAND PROBABLE LINEUP
125: Tommy Capul (SO | 1-5) -OR- Zach Spence (R-SO | 0-13)
133: King Sandoval (R-JR | 13-10)
141: Danny Bertoni (R-SR | 11-11)
149: Michael North (R-SO | 3-11)
157: Lucas Cordio (R-JR | 2-13) -OR- Conner Decker (FR | 6-12)
165: Gaven Bell (FR 3-17)
174: Dom Solis (SO | 9-11)
184: #14/13 Kyle Cochran (R-SR | 18-5)
197: #23/26 Jaron Smith (GRAD | 15-7) -OR- Kevin Makosy (R-SO | 2-7)
285: Zach Schrader (GRAD | 12-11)

*Individual Rankings based on FloWrestling/Intermat