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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 16, 2018

Tom Ryan

Cleveland, Ohio

Q. How would you characterize tonight? Obviously not the kind of night you wanted.
TOM RYAN: Characterize tonight? It's a tough way to earn a living. I'll tell you that much. Great. In some aspects, in some challenging. Typical tournament. I look forward to the day when I come to a national tournament and every person in my organization leaves happy. So there were some tough losses, some great wins, teams battling. We've got eight all-Americans, which is the most we've ever had, but we've got a lot of wrestling tomorrow. Mathematically I know it's not over. I think we're down by 10 or 11, who knows the exact score. But we're not out of it, and we've got some big matches in the morning.

Q. What has Joey McKenna meant to this team this year as a transfer, the guy you bring in to close the gap in the post season?
TOM RYAN: Yeah, I mean, obviously guys that you put this much time in, you spend this much time with people, often as a coach, you spend more time with your team than you do your wife, right, so you get really close with people, because you're there with them all the time. He's been a blessing to the team. He's a great leader. It was hard to see him lose. He was wrestling extremely well. He ran into someone that was wrestling well, also. Just a great leader for us, and he's blended into the team extremely well.

You know, he blended into the team with silence and hard work, and that goes over really well with people. He didn't say much for a while. He just worked really hard. And he earned the respect of his team with his work rather than his words. He's been a pleasure to have.

Q. I'm not trying to pick on McKenna, but obviously his match, he lost. He also decided not to go down in that match, too. Why was that decision made?
TOM RYAN: I think he probably would have taken him down. I was there in the corner. In fact, looking at the match from my view, he had a takedown in the first period that was pretty clear. Each one, one of the guys shut them down, there was two, and the head refs asked the assistant ref to check, and the assistant didn't want to. So that was a little disappointing. We only have three challenges. When you have 10 athletes and you're in as many wars as we're in and you only have three challenges, we didn't have one, or we would have used it because we thought it was two.

In saying that, I think when you have video review, the officials should at times not cause a coach to use a video review. But what was the direct question because you got me fired up for a second.

Q. Why he chose not to --
TOM RYAN: Because he thought he was going to take him down. I think he's wrestled him in the past and maybe he's got ridden by him. I think that was the game plan, take him down.

We want our wrestlers -- if we choose a position in the corner and they feel otherwise, then they should go with their gut. We've had those conversations with them. They are quarterbacking the match, and they have the right to overrule what the coach thinks.

Q. Nathan Tomasello has been able to avoid the fast starts. Didn't happen this time, but did you have any indication it could go that way, or why do you think it went Spencer's way in the first period this time?
TOM RYAN: We ran into someone really special tonight. I've watched him wrestle for a long time. Spencer Lee is a unique, unique wrestler, as is Nathan. To wrestle Spencer, you've got the match's strength, which we can do, but that late, that late turn, his top position is so strong, it was hard to watch. But there's not much to say about the match. He controlled the match today.

Q. How important is it to keep morale up after a round like this, and is it a tough thing to do?
TOM RYAN: Who said that? It's a tough thing to do, but we're fired up. I mean, there's no reason for us to be down. There's some guys that lost some tough matches. Kollin Moore getting thrown to his back was heartbreaking. Hey, it happens. You can't let it happen. So he's coming back strong. He's fighting for third place finish. He can still score some more points for us.

I mean, there's no reason why anyone from Ohio State should be hanging their head. We came in with a goal winning a national tournament. It's going to be hard to do tomorrow. It's still possible, but we could be a lot of other teams that aren't in the hunt. So we're really blessed right now to be Buckeyes.

Q. Speaking of Kollin Moore, did you know that the Kent wrestler, Kyle, had that upper body throw?
TOM RYAN: Yes, yes. He knew it, and we felt that -- take him into deep waters. Kollin Moore's attack rate is really high. He gets people tired. But opposing mind sets. One guy's mindset was finish fast. The other guy's mindset was wear on him, and they clashed, and he caught us early. But I am really proud of the way he came back as I am proud of the way Bo Jordan came back.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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