“It’s just one of those things that’s out of sight, out of mind,” Osterman said. “Once you leave the arena, I think you need to change your attitude toward the next match.
“You can’t hold your head on it and get caught up in the past.”

Learning from their mistakes, the Spartans realized they’re not being aggressive enough in their matches and are making it harder on themselves by being on defense too much, junior 184-pounder Ian Hinton said. To focus more on offense, the team is creating more high-pressure situations in practice and refining its technique to push the pace as the aggressor.

When it comes down to attacking harder and taking better shots, the wrestlers’ mentalities play a major factor in their decision-making.

“The thing that stops us from being aggressive is two things,” head coach Tom Minkel said. “One is fear of failure where you go hard and it backfires, and the other is fear of fatigue.

“In the back of everyone’s mind when they’re wrestling is, ‘How hard can I go and still have anything left in the tank?’”

After a weekend of taking more passive positions, the Spartans are ready to attack Illinois (3-3-1, 1-2-1) and control the pace of each match.

“We’re just going to focus on getting a good, hard week of practice in and really just focus on what we need to do to get ready for Illinois,” Osterman said.

“Obviously there are some little things that the coaches are going to point out, and we’re going to have to adjust, but it’s really just trying to get better this week.”

With five wrestlers ranked in the top 20 in the nation, MSU has spent this week strategizing for the always tough Fighting Illini, Hinton said.

Despite MSU leading the all-time series 39-16-4, the Spartans have lost to Illinois in four of the past five seasons.

In a rematch from the Midlands Championships in December 2010 in Evanston, Ill., Osterman will see one of the ranked opponents, wrestling Illinois’ No. 14 Eric Terrazas.

“I’m really excited about my match,” Osterman said. “I wrestled (Terrazas) at Midlands, and it was a really close match.”

Other top matchups include Hinton wrestling No. 18 Tony Dallago, senior 141-pounder Joel Trombly against No. 3 Jimmy Kennedy and junior 174-pounder Curran Jacobs versus No. 10 Jordan Blanton.

Although MSU’s lineup is suffering from some season-ending injuries, rather than being discouraged, Minkel said he still sees a lot of potential in his team.

“We’re missing a lot of guys from injuries, and that’s been pretty tough,” Minkel said. “But we’ve got some pretty good kids too, so if we can pull it all together, I think we could have a good dual.”

To take down their individual opponents, the Spartans said having the right mindset will play a huge role in determining the winner. If they expect to be the dominant force, they’ll stand a better shot of coming out on top, Hinton said.

“(Illinois is) ranked in the top 20 in the nation right now, so they’re pretty tough,” he said.
“We’re just going to train this week and go into it expecting to win.”