Sooners in Little Rock for Quad Dual

²² Oklahoma

Little Rock

South Dakota State

²¹Stanford

Sunday, Jan. 31 / All Day / Little Rock, Ark.

Tickets / TV / Live Stats / Game Notes

DUAL TIMES (CT
No. 22 Oklahoma vs. S. Dakota St. - 10 a.m.
No. 22 Oklahoma at Little Rock - 12 p.m.
No. 22 Oklahoma vs. No. 21 Stanford - 2 p.m.

NORMAN – No. 22 Oklahoma is back in action on the road this Sunday when it travels to Little Rock, Ark., for a quad-dual with Little Rock, No. 21 Stanford and Big-12 foe South Dakota State.

The Sooners will first take the mat at 10 a.m. vs. South Dakota State, followed by a showdown at noon with Little Rock and conclude the day with a ranked matchup vs. the Cardinal. The only dual with that will be available via stream is the contest at noon with Little Rock, which is accessible through Little Rock All-Access for a $9.99 day-pass. The duals are open to the public and tickets can be purchased online.

SOONER SUMMARY

Rosselli's squad returns all but one wrestler who saw action in 2019-20, featuring a lineup that showcases six NCAA qualifiers, two All-Americans and a pair of UWW/U23 national champions. The Sooners added 2019 ACC Freshman of the Year Mitch Moore to the roster via transfer from Virginia Tech. Moore is a two-time NCAA qualifier at 141 pounds and will compete for the Sooners at 149 pounds.

COACH'S THOUGHTS

"Sunday is a good opportunity for us to just get out there and compete," head coach Lou Rosselli said. "Each of these teams has guys that are good and tough wrestlers so we'll have to be ready to go. Any chance that we can get to get on the mat is something that we are thankful for, so we're looking forward to it."

SOONER STARTERS

125: Mason Naifeh -or- Tommy Hoskins
133: No. 19 Tony Madrigal -or- Caleb Tanner
141: No. 7 Dom Demas
149: No. 13 Mitch Moore
157: No. 11 Justin Thomas
165: Jake Stiles -or- Troy Mantanona
174: No. 22 Anthony Mantanona
184: Darrien Roberts
197: No. 12 Jake Woodley
285: No. 24 Josh Heindselman

LAST TIME OUT

The Sooners dropped a pair of close duals to No. 13 Iowa State (18-16) and No. 19 UNI (23-13) on Jan. 24 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Mitch Moore improved to 5-0 after pinning ISU's Cam Robinson and defeating Triston Lara via decision. Josh Heindselman went toe-to-toe with two of the nation's best heavyweights, dropping an overtime-decision to No. 6 Gannon Gremmel and 3-2 decision to No. 7 Carter Isley. The redshirt freshman's performances earned him a spot in the top 25, coming in at No. 24.

SOONERS IN THE RANKINGS

Oklahoma is ranked as a team by three different polls entering Sunday afternoon, and is ranked as high as 17th by Intermat. NWCA tabs the Sooners as the 22nd best team in the nation and Flo names the Sooners No. 20 in their dual rankings. The three primary individual rankings selected a host of Sooners to place inside the top 25. FloWrestling tabs seven Oklahoma starters as top-25 wrestlers in their respective weight classes, while Track Wrestling ranks eight Sooners inside the top 33.

Flo Wrestling/Intermat/Track Wrestling
133: Tony Madrigal - 19/18/17
141: Dom Demas - 7/8/8
149: Mitch Moore - 13/18/13
157: Justin Thomas - 11/9/10
174: Anthony Mantanona - 22?NR/30
184: Darrien Roberts - NR/NR/29
197: Jake Woodley - 12/12/12
285: Josh Heindselman - 24/NR/27

LIVIN' ON TULSA TIME

The Big 12 announced that fans would be permitted at the 2021 Big 12 Wrestling championship held at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., on March 6-7. Fans are encouraged to visit the Big 12 website for more information on ticketing. The Sooners are 23-time conference champions and posted 83 points at the 2020 Big 12 championship.

SERIES' HISTORIES

Sunday's dual with Little Rock will mark the first time that the programs have met since the inception of the Trojans' program in 2019. LR picked up its first Division I wins last week when it defeated CSU-Bakersfield and Fresno State (Big 12), 24-21 and 35-11 respectively.

The Sooners and Cardinal will run back a 2009 dual that Oklahoma won 35-3 at the Lonestar Duals. The 2009 dual is the only time that the two programs have faced off.

The most familiar foe on Sunday will be South Dakota State who joined the Big 12 as a wrestling affiliate in 2016. Historically, the two programs have met six times with each team collecting a trio of wins.

SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS

SDSU enters Sunday with a 2-3 record in 2021 and are 1-2 in Big 12 action after defeating Air Force 24-14 on Jan. 17. They're led by head coach Damion Hahn who will bring three ranked wrestlers into the dual with Oklahoma with wrestlers ranked at 141 (#22 Clay Carlson), 157 (#18 Cade DeVos) and 197 (#9 Tanner Sloan).

SCOUTING THE TROJANS

The Little Rock wrestling program is in its second year and picked up its first Division I wins last week when it defeated Fresno State 35-11 and then picked up its first Pac-12 win by beating CSU-Bakersfield 24-21.

SCOUTING THE CARDINAL

Stanford is ranked No. 21/22 by NWCA and Flo, respectively, entering Sunday afternoon. The Cardinal boast a number of ranked wrestlers but are only projected to have a ranked competitor at 149, 165 and 285, where Nathan Traxler (#10 at 197) is expected to bump up

UP NEXT

Following the Sooners' weekend in Little Rock, Rosselli's team will return to Norman where it will host No. 5 Oklahoma State in Lloyd Noble Center on Sunday, Feb. 7.