OU Looks to Bounce Back Against Northern Iowa

²¹ Oklahoma

Northern Iowa

Sunday, Jan. 30 / 2:00 p.m. CT / McCasland Field House / Norman

TV: Sooner Sports TV / Live Stats / Tickets

Projected Starters (Rankings by Intermat)
No. 21 Oklahoma
Wt.	Result	Team
125	No. 32 Joey Prata	10-5
133	No. 14 Tony Madrigal	8-4
141	Jacob Butler or Zack Zeamer	4-8 / 4-5
149	Willie McDougald	8-3
157	No. 15 Justin Thomas or Cam Picklo	13-5 / 1-1
165	No. 29 Joe Grello or Troy Mantanona	3-5 / 5-6
174	No. 22 Anthony Mantanona	11-5
184	No. 27 Darrien Roberts or Keegan Moore	12-7 / 2-0
197	No. 14 Jake Woodley	16-5
285	No. 28 Josh Heindselman	9-8

Projected Starters (Rankings by Intermat)
Northern Iowa
Wt.	Result	Team
125	No. 13 Brody Teske or Kyle Gollhofer	7-2 / 3-5
133	No. 24 Kyle Biscoglia	13-6
141	No. 23 Cael Happel	14-5
149	No. 33 Colin Realbuto or Triston Lara	11-5 / 3-5
157	Derek Holschlag	13-6
165	No. 18 Austin Yant	10-2
174	No. 21 Lance Runyon or Pat Schoenfelder	1-0 / 10-7
184	No. 4 Parker Keckeisen	14-1
197	Noah Glaser	7-10
285	Tyrell Gordon	9-10

NORMAN - Oklahoma wrestling will look to take advantage of a quick bounce back opportunity when they host Northern Iowa in McCasland Field House on Sunday afternoon.

The dual is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. CT with the doors opening one hour prior to first match.

Last Time Out

Friday night No. 21 Oklahoma hosted No. 7 Iowa State in only their third home match of the season. The two long-time conference foes squared off for the 93rd time in their history going all the way back to 1922.

After four matches, the Sooners and Cyclones were all tied up at 6-6 thanks to big early wins from Joey Prata and Willie McDougald. The next four matches would go in favor of ISU, with two of them decided by two points or less, and the Sooners fell 22-9. Jake Woodley picked up his seventh ranked win of the season to grab the third and final win in the match for OU.

The redshirt-freshman McDougald continued his impressive debut in collegiate dual action. He picked up a win over No. 21 Josh Edmond of Missouri in his first ever dual bout last week and fought for another win on Friday over All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier No. 21 Jarrett Degen of ISU. He is 3-0 in duals for the Sooners and is on a six match win streak going back to extra matches at the Virginia Duals.

THE LAST DANCE

The Sooners took the mat against the Panthers last season in a double-header with Iowa State in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

OU held a 10-7 lead at the halfway point in the match as Dom Demas racked up a 14-3 major decision and Mitch Moore and Justin Thomas grabbed wins in their bouts. They then dropped four of the five final matchups to lose the dual 23-13. Jake Woodley was the only Sooner to pick up a win in the second half.

SERIES HISTORY

The all-time series between these two programs is extremely tight, the third most competitive pairing in Oklahoma wrestling history of the matchups with at least ten meetings.

The Panthers hold the lead 8-5 with the first dual between the sides taking place in 1986. It will be the programs' 14th meeting.

The teams last faced off in Norman in McCasland Field House in Feb. 2020 in a 25-13 win for UNI.

OU's most recent win against UNI came on Feb. 5 2017 in a 27-13 win on the road in Iowa highlighted by a major decision win from Christian Moody and a pin (2:03) from Yoanse Mejias.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS

Northern Iowa travels to Norman with a 3-5 record on the season and are 2-2 in conference play. All five of their loses have come against opposition currently ranked by the NWCA, with four of those teams ranked inside the top-11 at the time of the dual.

The Panthers' most recent dual also represents their best win thus far on the season when they took down Big 12 foe North Dakota State 29-13.

The team has returned all six of its NCAA qualifiers from last season, including reigning Big 12 champions 125-pounder Brody Teske and 184-pounder Parker Keckeisen.

Seven Panthers are ranked by Intermat. Keckeisen leads the pack at No. 4 in his weight class with Teske at No. 13.

COMPETITION HEATING UP

This weekend, the Sooners will face two representatives of the Hawkeye state in Iowa State and Northern Iowa. The matchups also represent two of the five most competitive matchups in Oklahoma wrestling's storied history.

1. Wisconsin - Series tied 10-10-1
2. Iowa - OU leads 16-14-1
3. Northern Iowa - UNI leads 5-8
4. Penn State - PSU leads 10-14
5. Iowa State - 48-43-1

SOONERS IN THE RANKINGS

The NCAA released its first Division I coaches' rankings last week with seven OU wrestlers making the initial list. These rankings are one of several criteria used to determine at-large bids and seeding for the NCAA tournament at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit Mar. 17-19. The program had seven NCAA qualifiers last season and have had 629 all-time.

Joey Prata, Justin Thomas, Joe Grello, Anthony Mantanona, Darrien Roberts, Jake Woodley and Josh Heindselman each made the coaches' rankings in their respective weight classes.

At 133 and 149 pounds, Tony Madrigal and Mitch Moore did not meet the minimum requirements for the first set of rankings. The next batch is scheduled to be released on Feb. 20 and both will become eligible for consideration if they take the mat before then.

In the other national rankings, OU has ten wrestlers appearing across all the major rankings for the seventh time this season.

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