UNC Wrestling 2025-2026

NYHeel92

Sophomore
Aug 2, 2025
62
156
33
Should be a good one tonight! Not too much of interest from our lineup. Couple things: one of the only OR is Simcox OR O’Neill. Askew is wrestling again at 149…he is well past keeping his redshirt so looks like he is the starter. Good news that Neves is listed at 285 so hopefully he is back to 100% (Levy also listed though).

Wrestlestat has us losing 23-10…7 matches to 3. They have Simcox, Hepner, and Neves winning. I’d say the Oakley, Dailey, and Platt matches are also winnable...not quite toss-ups but close. And Terukina has a big opportunity against #7 Strickenberger who is coming off a tournament win at Cliff Keen Las Vegas.

Let’s get it done boys!
 

81Heel/M1

Sophomore
Jul 30, 2025
107
195
43
I would call Oakley (WS 30/IM 16) vs Andrick (WS 23/IM 19) about as close as you can get to a toss up. The other “or” of interest is WVU’s 174 class. Murabito either has a top 15 wrestler or a similarly ranked 165 class wrestler.

Intermat reporting a commitment from Mick Moylan, a 2027 recruit at heavyweight out of CA. I believe he placed 3rd at States last year.


 

ivyheel

Redshirt
Aug 1, 2025
9
24
3
Everything going right so far. Big win for Askew over a 3x NCAA qualifier. I remember seeing his name in the portal many months ago, but didn't realize he landed at WV.

Hopefully we can at least avoid bonus points in this next one.

EDIT: Gutsy performance from Root.
 
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81Heel/M1

Sophomore
Jul 30, 2025
107
195
43
I was hoping for a few big wins tonight, and we finished with more wins than I could have hoped for by some young wrestlers. Great match. Not sure anyone had a 20 point win for UNC, even with there backup at 125 (and his WS ranking was 30, so a good win for Terukina as well).
 

NYHeel92

Sophomore
Aug 2, 2025
62
156
33
Simcox also, with the amazing scramble. I couldn’t watch the match live, but saw that ending on Twitter. Great confidence-building win for him. All the Koll recruits killed it tonight. Not to single them out, just saying. Plus Hepner’s pin put the match basically out of reach and took the pressure off for Dailey and Platt to get the ranked wins.
 

81Heel/M1

Sophomore
Jul 30, 2025
107
195
43
Thought about turning to the next match, but we need to enjoy last night first. I was hopeful that there would be some fun matches with the young lineup we have, and last night did not disappoint. Terukina vs Strickenberger did not happen, but Gill is ranked #30 by WS, so a really good win. We got the advantage of key takedowns late in matches, and it started with Oakley against a similarly ranked opponent. I look forward to the day when Simcox is more aggressive on his feet, but we are not there yet. He, along with Root and Hepner, enjoy the scrambles, and it was in a scramble that looked bad early for him that he emerged with the victory in sudden death. Askew is a 141 pounder wrestling up, and it showed in size last night. His opponent may have been less than 100%, but Nate took the match to him after getting down early and came out with a good win.

Root deserves special recognition for going in against the #1 wrestler at his weight, and wrestling like he could win. The crazy part is that he was in it to the last second. He did everything right, and just lost to a really good wrestler. Great match that should give him a lot of confidence going into a couple of big matches. Hepner looks like he is having fun, but he also wrestles like he has something to prove. I really like that attitude, and hope he is able to prove his skills.

I hope Murabito is okay today, as he was clearly in pain. Good job finishing the match, and had the ref not gotten so crazy with the stalling calls he might have only given up a 3 team point loss. I won't go into my historical view on stalling, but this match would have been better served with an older ref (or just a good ref).

Huge wins for Dailey and Platt against ranked wrestlers. Dailey getting the key takedown and controlling the match was a big deal against a quality opponent. As for Platt's match, there is just so much to say. 3 takedowns, including 1 late were the difference in the match that the ref tried to give away with stalling calls. I haven't kept up with the rules as well as others may have, but the rule was always that if you are on top and your opponent stands up you have to attempt to return them to the mat. It is hard to see and count stalling warnings/calls as the ref is generally out of sight of the camera when they are calling them. That said it was clear that the ref made at least 1 stalling call and awarded a point to WVU in a sequence where Platt tried 3 times in 10 seconds to return the wrestler to the mat. All were successfully defended, but that was terrible officiating. Was not pleased with him getting ridden out for the entire 2nd period. In the end the late takedown won the day.

Neves took care of business, though waiting to sudden victory to get his first takedown would not have been my preference.

Huge win for the team, and perhaps some confidence going into 2 tough matches this weekend. Fun match to watch, and a great night for the team with all of the young wrestlers coming through, and the veterans largely taking care of business. By Tuesday we will see if this has any significant impact in individual rankings, and it should for several of the wrestlers.

If you did not see the match, it is still available on the espn app.
 

heelwrestler07

Redshirt
Aug 2, 2025
20
46
13
WVu wrestled OK State today with some interesting results compared with our match results. WVu lost 34-3 against OK State, though they were without a few guys that went against us, including #1 ranked Watters but a lot of their guys kept matches close against highly ranked opponents.
Notably:
133 Andrick who Oakley beat upset the #11 wrestler in the country
141 Titus who Simcox beat 5-2 only lost 5-1 against the #2 ranked wrestler in the country
165 Taylor who Hepner pinned quickly stayed in the match and only lost 5-2 against the #2 wrestler in the country
184 and 197 the WVu wrestlers that Dailey and Platt upset both lost 2-1 matches against wrestlers ranked #10 and #7 respectively

obviously you can't just use the transitive property in wrestling, but the results in these matches make the performances look even better in my opinion
 

81Heel/M1

Sophomore
Jul 30, 2025
107
195
43
The WS prediction includes an upset win by their unranked 125(unranked on Intermat, but 46 on WS). Maybe he is a freshman whose star is rising, but after that I believe their Intermat rankings go; 8,3,5,6,12,6,9,12,& 4. Good bulletin board material, but not without some basis for a lopsided prediction. Still, a good match to see what we have. Will our freshmen take the next step, or do they fold on the road at a powerhouse program? Should be a great wrestling environment, and another opportunity to announce who you are.

Waiting to see how our rankings are impacted by the weekend matches.