UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; February 18, 2020 – Penn State Nittany Lion wrestler Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.) has been named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week for the week ending Feb. 16, 2020. Lee's honor is his second straight after sharing the award last week. He shares this week's award with Maryland's Jaron Smith.
Lee continued to dominate the competition in 2019-20, this time controlling No. 1 Luke Pletcher of Ohio State and rolling to an 8-4 win. Lee gave up an early takedown to the top-ranked and then-unbeaten Buckeye but escaped quickly and then controlled the entirety of the bout. Pletcher escaped to start the second period after a brief Lee ride to lead 3-1 and then Lee went to work. He quickly took Pletcher down to tie the bout and then dominated the action on top. He forced Pletcher in to two stalls to take a 4-3 lead and finished the period on top. Leading 4-3, Lee escaped to start the third period and notched another takedown to open up a 7-3 lead. Once again, Lee did not allow Pletcher to escape until the final seconds and finished the bout with nearly 2:00 in riding time. He picked up a riding time point on 1:50 in time and posted the 8-4 win.
Lee remains unbeaten on the year and is now 17-0. He has four pins, seven tech falls and four majors, meaning only two of his 17 wins have not been for bonus. Lee's win helped spark Penn State to a 20-16 victory over Ohio State in the 2020 BJC Dual. The sellout crowd of 15,995 is the third largest in Penn State history and the third largest indoor crowd in NCAA history (Penn State owns the top five indoor totals).
Penn State is now 11-2 overall, 8-1 in the Big Ten. Minnesota falls to 9-6, 4-3 in Big Ten action. The Nittany Lions close out their dual meet season this Sunday, hosting American University in Rec Hall at 2 p.m.
Penn State Fans are encouraged to follow Penn State wrestling via twitter at @pennstateWREST, on Penn State Wrestling's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennstatewrest. This is PENN STATE. WRESTLING lives here.
