OU Hits the Road for Bout with Northern Illinois

²⁰ Oklahoma

Northern Illinois

Sunday, Jan. 23 / 12:00 p.m. CT / DeKalb, Ill.

TV: ESPN+ / Live Stats / Match Notes(pdf)

Projected Starters (Rankings by Intermat)
No. 20 Oklahoma
Wt.	Result	Team
125	No. 32 Joey Prata	8-5
133	No. 14 Tony Madrigal	7-3
141	Jacob Butler	4-6
149	Willie McDougald	6-3
157	No. 16 Justin Thomas or Cam Picklo	12-4 / 1-1
165	Troy Mantanona	4-5
174	No. 32 Anthony Mantanona	10-4
184	No. 26 Darrien Roberts	11-6
197	No. 12 Jake Woodley	14-5
285	No. 29 Josh Heindselman	8-7

Projected Starters (Rankings by Intermat)
Northern Illinois
Wt.	Result	Team
125	Bryce West or Lucian Brink	10-11 / 6-8
133	Mikey Kaminski	5-6
141	Javion Jones or Dillon Nichols	11-11 / 1-4
149	Anthony Cheloni	7-9
157	Anthony Gibson or Alec Rees	14-8 / 4-9
165	No. 17 Izzak Olejnik	17-4
174	No. 20 Mason Kauffman	14-6
184	None Given
197	Tristan Gauman or Matthew Zuber	8-11 / 4-6
285	Terrese Aaron	7-12

NORMAN - Oklahoma wrestling is back on the road to take on Northern Illinois in Dekalb, Ill., on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT.

The team had its first home match in over a month on Thursday as it enters the home stretch of the season. This is the first week of three in a row where the Sooners will have two matches in the same weekend. After this one, the next four will all be at home.

Last Time Out

The Sooners faced off against No. 9 Missouri on Thusday night in their first match in the friendly confines of McCasland Field House of the 2021-22 season.

A tight contest throughout, the two Big 12 foes sat all square at 14-14 after seven bouts. Four wins in the first seven meant the match was there for the taking, but the breakthrough never came and the Sooners took their third loss of the season. All three have come against top-10 opponents.

Making his collegiate dual debut, the redshirt freshman Willie McDougald knocked off No. 21 Josh Edmond despite not knowing his going to wrestle in the match until the day before. The riding time advantage after the tiebreaker rounds gave him his first career win over a ranked opponent. McDougald was the first unranked Sooner to defeat a ranked foe since Jan. 2019 when Jacob Butler beat No. 23 Alec Hagan of Ohio in an 8-4 decision.

Tony Madrigal picked up his first tech fall of the season in just two periods while Justin Thomas and Anthony Mantanona built their active win streaks to five and four games respectively after each earned one-point decision wins against Missouri wrestlers.

OUR LAST BATTLE WITH NORTHERN ILLINOIS

The Sooners last took the mat against the Huskies at the Lone Star Duals in Grand Prairie, Texas, in January of 2000.

Led by four-time All-American, national champion and current assistant coach Michael Lightner, OU came into the dual as the No. 5 team in the nation and left with a 34-12 victory.
Oklahoma took seven of the 10 matches, including a season high four pins in the win.

The team would go on to defeat Brown 37-9 but then lose to top-ranked Iowa 21-12 in the tournament.

SERIES HISTORY: NORTHERN ILLINOIS

Oklahoma wrestling has squared off with Northern Illinois on three occasions, winning all three.

The fourth matchup between the two programs will take place on Sunday in Dekalb, Ill. This will be the first time the Huskies have hosted the Sooners.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES

NIU holds a 4-5 record on the season and are 1-2 in matches against fellow MAC opponents. The Huskies have competed in three tournaments this season, highlighted by a second place finish at the Cougar Clash in Edwardsville.

Their most recent dual came in a 33-6 loss to Central Michigan on Jan. 21 in a makeup of the postponed dual between the teams from earlier in January. The Chippewas took eight of the ten bouts on the night. NIU's No. 20 Mason Kauffman and Mikey Kaminski were the lone winners for the Huskies.

The program currently has three ranked wrestlers in Izzak Olejnik (No. 17 at 165), Mason Kauffman (No. 20 at 174) and Brit Wilson (No. 20 at 184), according to Intermat.

HAVEN'T WE SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE?

Back in November, both of these programs kicked off their seasons at the Michigan State Open. In that tournament, the Sooners saw three wrestlers claim titles (125, 133 and 197) with three more winding up as finalists (149, 174 and 285). The Huskies meanwhile grabbed a title of their own (184) with two additional finalists (157 and 165).

The two teams had plenty of overlap throughout the day. OU came out on top with a 4-3 record in contests between wrestlers from the two squads in the open portion of the tournament.

Potential rematches on Sunday could come between No. 14 Tony Madrigal and Mikey Kaminski (Madrigal won in a 5-2 decision), Willie McDougald and Anthony Cheloni (Cheloni won in a 3-0 decision), and No. 26 Darrien Roberts and No. 20 Brit Wilson (Wilson won in a 8-1 decision. Wilson missed NIU's last dual against Ohio).

Both squads also had a wrestler take a title in the Fresh/Soph Division of the tournament (OU - Alejandro Herrera-Rondon at 157, NIU - Blake West at 125).