Despite a tough season for Arizona State thus far, Sun Devils coach Zeke Jones has his team’s collective eye focused squarely on the postseason.

ASU is 4-5 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12 with home matches remaining against Northern Colorado, Cornell and Oklahoma, and road trips to Iowa State, Lehigh and West Virginia. Each of those matches is another step toward Tulsa (Big 12s) and Philadelphia (NCAAs).

“Injuries and key redshirts are holding us out this year and it’s just going to be one of those years,” Jones said. “But I do believe in the ending result, that guys like (defending NCAA champ) Richie (Figueroa at 125) and (All-American heavyweight) Cohlton (Schultz) can make the finals again. 

“A kid like Nicco (Ruiz) at 165 is knocking on the door and we have to get Julian (Chlebove) at 133 and Jesse (Vasquez) at 149 turned around. I think we go where Julian and Jesse go.”

Jones said the Sun Devils, who placed sixth, seventh, fourth and fourth at the past four NCAA Championships, are “pretty famous” for being tough in January and February and having a great March. 

“And I just really think we'll have Julian and Jesse turned around,” he added.

While any coach will tell you that physical health is a plus, it’s the mental aspect that comes into play as the season unfolds. 

“It’s the pressure that kids put on themselves, and really understanding that,” Jones said. “We had a nice talk yesterday about staying present, not searching in the past or looking to the future … just really being grounded in today's moment. 

“And I told the guys, ‘Hey, you've lost three dual meets (in January). What's really changed? No one hates you. We all love you. Nobody's angry at you. Let's go have fun. Let's go learn wrestling and get better at it. And you didn’t die, and the sun came up. Life's gonna be OK.’”

Bookends On Offense

The lightest, Figueroa, ranked #2 and 6-1 overall, and the heaviest, Schultz, ranked #5 and 14-3, have been winning, but many of their matches have been tight. Jones believes both are ready to improve their offensive attacks.

“I think Richie is getting his weight stabilized. And it reminds me of last year. He took some hits in January last year, with injury and weight stability,” Jones explained. 

“Now he has maturity. He knows how to win now. But I think the weight thing is just now getting stabilized. So I think you're going to start to see some of Richie's best wrestling coming up. When he got out of February last year, he was unstoppable.”

Schultz has been impressing Jones as well.

“This is the most relaxed, the most confident, the most skilled, the best mentality I've ever seen from Cohlton in all his years,” Jones said. “And I think although he's been wrestling a long time, he's just wrestling free and wrestling light-hearted, and he's getting used to wrestling light-hearted; he hasn't done that in a long time. 

“I think when he got stung at the Olympic Trials (losing a best-of-three in the Greco-Roman 130 kg finals), I think that's when he realized, ‘What am I doing? Why am I putting all this pressure on myself? I'm a good wrestler, have fun, enjoy, let the chips fall,’” Jones said. “Being present has been the key for him. I think he's getting used to doing it, so his scores aren't reflecting it yet.”

Correcting Some Technique

Jones said the dual meet season “hasn’t been pretty” and just getting better is the key.

“Even if we were 8-0, I don't think it would matter, right? It's just really focus on getting better at wrestling, correcting the things that we need to correct,” he said. 

“We're going in the room every day. It’s the little things. If you can come to the room every week and clean up one more area, because at this level, it's not 100 things you’ve got to fix, it's four or five, as well as then scouting for your opponents. I think that's what we've always been good at heading into March.

Where’s Kaleb?

Jones said that while KaIeb Larkin is looking “like a beast” in the room, he is still getting healthy. The Olympic Trials qualifier and 149-pound redshirt freshman would take a medical redshirt if he can’t make it back for the conference event.

Big-Time Big 12

Jones and the Sun Devils appreciate their new home in the Big 12 after spending, well, forever in the Pac-12.

“We asked for a tough conference schedule, and we got it; it's been good,” Jones said. “Now we're on ESPN+ every week, so it's really cool to be able to compete with them; we haven't been able to do that in the past. Being on TV and wrestling a good schedule has been helpful.

“We still have some special things to do — getting Richie in position, Cohlton in position, some young guys trying to come up, and guys trying to finish strong. Everybody's team is a little bit different, but we're all striving for that same thing.”