IOWA CITY, Iowa – Head coach Tom Brands and several of the Iowa wrestlers met with the media on Wednesday. Second-ranked Iowa is preparing to face No. 23 Minnesota on Friday at Caver-Hawkeye Arena

The Hawkeyes are 13-0 overall and 7-0 in the Big Ten.

Most of the talk on Wednesday centered around wrestling, but Brands did talk briefly about politics in the wake of Tuesday’s rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump in which several Iowa wrestlers and Iowa football players attended. Brands says his wrestlers are independent thinkers and have a right to express themselves,  but their appearance was not an endorsement for Trump on behalf of the Iowa wrestling program.

Thomas Gilman had plenty to say about wrestling as usual. But Iowa’s undefeated 125-pound junior declined to talk about Trump’s political event. Gilman said he wasn’t there to talk about politics.

Heavyweight Sam Stoll also explains why he picked the Hawkeyes over Minnesota despite being a Minnesota native, while Gilman and Nathan Burak talk about being undefeated this late in the season.