After its Dec. 15 meet at Rec Hall, the Penn State wrestling team prepared for a month away from home. The No. 10 Nittany Lions had a strong start to the road stint, but were unable to finish it on a positive note.

Penn State (9-4, 0-2) completed its seven-game road trip with losses to No. 17 Wisconsin Friday and No. 1 Minnesota yesterday, as it has dropped its last three meets. The matches marked the first two Big Ten duals for the Lions, quickly dropping their conference record to 0-2.

The Lions first fell to undefeated Wisconsin, 17-16. For the second straight dual, bonus points kept the Lions from victory. Both teams took five bouts, but the Badgers were able to capitalize on No. 6 Craig Henning's technical fall on true freshman Bubba Jenkins.

"After the Wisconsin match, we tried to get them in the mindset to know that everything is going to be a battle," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said on Penn State's sports radio network after the meet. "Even if you don't know the guy, you've never heard of the guy, he's not ranked, or whatever. It's going to be a battle."

After the upset loss, Penn State was looking for an upset of its own yesterday at Minnesota. Those hopes faded halfway into the first bout.

Minnesota's No. 5 Jayson Ness recorded a shocking fall on No. 2 Mark McKnight almost five minutes into the 125-pound match. The pin on McKnight, one of the Lions' most reliable wrestlers, sparked the Gophers, who cruised to a 31-12 victory.

"Mark has the ability of coming out strong, and he got the takedown, gave up the reversal and was kind of content to be on the bottom a little bit," Sunderland said. "Hopefully, the lesson he learned is you can't be content in any situation."

Despite the team loss yesterday, No. 4 Jake Strayer bounced back from an upset loss on Friday and recorded one of only three Penn State victories yesterday. No. 3 Phil Davis defeated Wisconsin's No. 11 Dallas Herbst, and was given the only Penn State fall of the day 1:36 into his match against Brent Eidenschinck yesterday.

No. 7 James Yonushonis represented the other three team points yesterday with his decision over No. 12 Gabriel Dretsch, 3-2. Sunderland attributed the hard-fought victory with a change Yonushonis has made with his style.

He said Yonushonis has been more patient on the mat, and was able to wear his opponent down until the final minute.

"The effort was better today, and there were some bright spots, but we just didn't complete the matches like we needed to," Sunderland said. "It's just one of those things where you need to go through the experience and look at the things they need to improve upon, and it's just an ongoing process."

Penn State will play host to four-straight Big Ten duals starting with Ohio State and No. 16 Illinois on Friday and Sunday, respectively.