No. 9 ASU wrestling returned to dominant form on Sunday against California Polytechnic University in the team's final match before the Pac-12 tournament.
The Sun Devils outscored Cal Poly 38-9, but head coach Zeke Jones made it evident that the score did not matter.
After ASU’s loss to Lehigh Friday night, Jones was frustrated with his team’s commitment to score off of the bottom.
In college wrestling, riding time is a factor that can determine matches in the postseason. A wrestler is awarded one point if he earns more than one minute of riding time by the end of the match.
“We’re going to work on getting off the bottom,” Jones said.
Jones said he wants his wrestlers to understand that coming off the bottom in a national tournament is hard, and he wasn’t going to give the team a break against a lesser opponent.
Freshman Cade Belshay was the first to heed Jones' lesson when Belshay could not find a way to escape a tough ride from Cal Poly sophomore Thomas Lane.
“Keep doing it until you figure it out,” Jones said.
Belshay would ultimately lose the match, but not without learning the lesson that Jones intended.
Jones would continue to put his wrestlers in the down position throughout the dual meet.
Although Jones wanted his wrestlers to work on a flaw, the Sun Devils showed out against the Mustangs.
ASU racked up four pins, one technical fall and three major decisions en route to scoring its most points against any opponent this season.
After today's win, ASU’s confidence should be high going into the Pac-12 tournament at the end of the month.
The Sun Devils will have a couple weeks to tweak some issues, but will no doubt be focused on repeating as Pac-12 champions Feb. 25.
No. 9 Arizona State 38; Cal Poly 9
174: Zahid Valencia pin. Killian Vendler (3:26)
184: Kordell Norfleet pin. Ryan Anderson (2:30)
197: Thomas Lane dec. Cade Belshay (6-5) SV, tb-1
HWT: Tanner Hall maj. Spencer Empey (11-3)
125: Ryan Millhof maj. Yoshi Funakoshi (8-0)
133: Ali Naser maj. Tyler Schilling (21-9)
141: Colton Schilling pin. Nikko Villarreal (3:39)
149: Jason Tsirtsis dec. Joshua Cortez (2-1)
157: Josh Shields pin. Jet Moy (4:52)
165: Oliver Pierce tech. fall Ryan Farina (18-3)
Reach the reporter at trittenh@asu.edu or follow @trittenhouse34 on Twitter.
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