The last three weeks, he's taken it to another level. We knew if he kept wrestling with that same intensity, he had a chance to place.

When he came in as a freshman, he loved wrestling, loved competing. He began a path then.

I've wrestled since I was 6 years old. I've gone through some of the most excruciating wrestling camps, where they say, ‘We're going to kill you.' I made it through all of them. When it comes right down to it, it's all mental.

(Wrestling) teaches you nothing comes easy. Nothing in life comes easy, so you have to work at it.

That drive itself, and the back-to-back fouls on Wilson was a huge turning point. Wilson is a great player, and with him out of there, it opened the middle for us. We took advantage of it.

It was hard to say whether it was a foul or not, but the fact we were even there at the end despite being behind by 17 points at one point says something about our effort. But still, I understand how (Nutting) feels. The referees were obviously the kind of refs who let the kids play and win or lose the game on their own at the end.