Things started off rough for the Spartans until the 141-pound weight class came up. Spartan sophomore Brian Gibbs faced off against Minnesota redshirt sophomore Josh Shupe and was able to pull off the only victory for Michigan State on the night.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the third period, Gibbs was able to pull off a crucial takedown on Shupe with under a minute remaining to put the score at 3-1. Even though Shupe was able to get back one more point, Gibbs held him off for the victory.

Unfortunately for Michigan State, there would be no other victories on the night, but the Spartans still held their own against some of the best competition around.

Sophomore Nick Trimble came close to pulling a major upset on Minnesota redshirt junior Nick Dardanes, who is ranked second in the country at the 149-pound weight class. Trimble was only down 5-3 to start the third period, but Dardanes was able to hold off for the 8-4 victory.

In the 165-pound weight class, Spartan senior Bobby Nash faced off against Gophers redshirt senior Danny Zilverberg. It was a tough match all the way to the finish, but all of Nash’s shots came up empty and Zilverberg came out victorious, 5-3.

The highlight match of the night was in the heavyweight class, as Spartan senior Mike McClure, who is ranked ninth in the country, faced off against Gopher redshirt senior Tony Nelson.

Nelson currently is ranked second in the country in the weight class and also is the two-time defending national champion in the heavyweight class.

The match was scoreless after the first period, but Nelson was able to get on the board first with an escape early in the second period.

McClure was close to making escapes on Nelson for the rest of the match, but wasn’t able to get anything going and Nelson ended up winning, 2-0.

Minnesota improved to 7-0 on the season and 4-0 in the Big Ten Conference, while Michigan State fell to 5-6 overall on the season and 0-3 in the Big Ten.