NC State wrestling notebook: Finally … the Pack returns to Reynolds

After two months of nothing but road competitions, the NC State Wrestling team will finally be in home action this weekend. The Pack will welcome Binghamton Friday night at 7 p.m. The last, and only time, the Pack competed in Raleigh this season was a season-opening 26-12 win over Appalachian State way back on Nov. 4.

NC State Wrestling vs. Binghamton

Binghamton was recently in action at the Southern Scuffle placing seventh as a team, and sit at 2-5 in duals. The Bearcats are led by their upper weights, having ranked wrestlers at 184, 197 and heavyweight. 

Here is a quick look at the probable match-ups for NC State vs. Binghamton:

#3 Trent Hidlay vs. #23 Jacob Nolan (8-4)

Last time Hidlay was in action, he got locked in a cradle and was pinned by #2 Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. How will Hidlay respond? He has another ranked opponent, his seventh straight. Outside that recent loss, Hidlay has outscored his last six ranked foes 41-12, with three top-10 wins.

#7 Isaac Trumble vs. #9 Louie DePrez (10-2)

Trumble has faced a ranked opponent in five of his last six matches, with three of those bouts against top-11 foes. This could be a rematch from last year, when DePrez hit a first-period six-point move and went on to defeat Trumble by a 10-2 major decision.

Could is the key word, as DePrez advanced to the finals at the Southern Scuffle on Monday but was forced to injury default with the score tied 4-4 in the second period. So it will be interesting to see if he is cleared for Friday night against NC State.

#13 Owen Trephan vs. #21 Cory Day (10-2)

Trephan is coming off an exciting extra time win for NC State over current #14 Tyrell Gordon of Northern Iowa, and his three losses on the season are all to top-10 foes. Day was the second Bearcat to reach the finals at the Southern Scuffle, scoring a ranked win in the semifinals before a top-10 loss in the finals. He went from being ranked #33 to #21 after his showing. 

Lining Up the Lineup

With the start of the new semester, NC State wrestling will have nothing but duals up until the ACC Championship (March 5 in Reynolds Coliseum) the rest of the way. The goal now is to get the 10 starters ready for the postseason.

The majority of NC State’s lineup would appear to seem set for the postseason. The lone weight that seems to not be worked out yet is 165 pounds.

Sophomore Donald Cates has seen the most action for the Pack, going 7-6 thus far. Freshman Matty Singleton threw his hat into the ring, made the cut down to 165 for the first time this season at the Collegiate Duals last time out and went 1-1. The NC State coaching staff would like to see continued progress from redshirt freshman Derek Fields, a former top-50 recruit, and might give him a chance in the starting lineup soon.

Against Binghamton, expect the decision to come down to between Cates and Fields. Singleton is scheduled to be in action for the Pack elsewhere Friday (more on that later).

Coaching Memories

NC State wrestling head coach Pat Popolizio will face his former team this weekend, as his first head coaching job was at Binghamton (2007-12). In his six seasons with the Bearcats, he posted a pair of top-25 finishes at the NCAA Championships, coached four All-Americans and 21 NCAA qualifiers, and won the 2010 CAA Championship.

This will be the third Popolizio vs. Binghamton match-up since he arrived in Raleigh. The Pack won 35-7 last year at the Collegiate Wrestling Duals and 28-9 up in New York back in 2020.

More NC State Wrestling Action Friday

In addition to the dual against Binghamton, the Pack will also be sending wrestlers to the Franklin & Marshall Open which runs all day on Friday. 

Since we are now in the second semester, and this is an open tournament,  this event will not count as one of the five competition dates for those freshmen that plan to maintain their redshirt. So you can expect to see Singleton, Dylan Fishback, Chase Horne and Finn Solomon amongst the Pack wrestlers competing.

The point of sending Singleton is to get him more matches at 165 pounds. If NC State decides to burn his redshirt (he still has three competition dates left to use if they decide to keep him as a redshirt) and insert him into the postseason lineup, it would be ideal to get him 15 matches at the weight for RPI and NCAA allocation purposes.

The open will be streamed on FloWrestling and starts at 9 a.m.

Bright Lights of TV

The dual against Binghamton will be streamed on ACC Network Extra for those that can not make it to Reynolds Coliseum. But, with the Pack sending a squad up to Franklin & Marshall, Hayden Hidlay will put on his coaching polo for NC State and will not be a part of the broadcast team.

Filling in for Hidlay on ACC Network Extra will be former Pack national champion Michael Macchiavello serving as the color analyst.

The ACC also recently announced its schedule for the Friday Night Duals on the ACC Network. A pair of Pack duals have been picked to be broadcast on TV, Jan. 20 at Virginia Tech and Feb. 17 at North Carolina.