Wrestling Preview: Oklahoma

WHAT: Iowa State Wrestling vs. University of Oklahoma

WHERE: McCasland Fieldhouse, Norman, Oklahoma

WHEN: Friday January 28th @ 7 PM

HOW TO WATCH: Sooner Sports TV

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The Iowa State wrestlers have a pair of HUGE Big 12 duals in Oklahoma this weekend, starting with the Sooners on Friday night. OU was co-champs at for the Big 12 championship last season. Iowa State has continued their incredible climb in the dual rankings — InterMat has them at #6 and FloWrestling has them at #8 this week. The Sooners are #19 and #21. All-time Iowa State owns a 53-42-3 advantage in this series. There will be a bunch of great matchups in this one.

Projected Matchups

Individual rankings from FloWrestling. Iowa State listed first.

125: Kysen Terukina (#23) vs Joey Prata (HM)

• This will be the toughest test of the season so far for undefeated Terukina. Prata transferred in this year from Virginia Tech where he was a national qualifier in 2020. He wrestles a ton of close, low scoring matches, so don’t take the over here.

133: Ramazan Attasauov vs Tony Madrigal (#10)

• Madrigal turned it on at Big 12’s last season, reaching the finals. He’s won some big matches already this season, too. Attasauov needs to hang around and finish his shots to win this match.

141: Ian Parker (#14) vs Jacob Butler or Zach Zeamer

• Butler traded spots in the Sooner lineup this season with Dom Demas. This is a prime spot for Parker to pick up bonus points for Iowa State no matter who OU sends out.

149: Jarrett Degen (#24) vs Willie McDougald

• OU is deep at this weight. Their top two on the depth chart are All-American Dom Demas and bloodrounder Mitch Moore. Unfortunately, they are both injured. McDougald will get the call Friday. He’s already beaten #21 Edmond of Mizzou. The tough next man up means no gimme for Degen.

157: David Carr (#1) vs Justin Thomas (#16)

• Thomas is a 5th-year starter who’s made it to NCAAs the past 3 seasons. Carr has won all 3 matchups, but never scored bonus points. Will Carr show us once again that he’s on another level this season?

165: Isaac Judge or Austin Kraisser vs Joe Grello or Troy Mantanona (HM)

• Mantanona pinned Judge last season in Tulsa, but the gap between these two is not that wide. Judge has been wrestling his tail off since the break. Alternatively, we may see Austin Kraisser. Coach Dresser hasn’t settled this weight yet and results this weekend could go a long way in that decision.

174: Joel Devine (#18) or Julien Broderson vs Anthony Mantanona (HM)

• Last year the bigger Mantanona split a pair of matches with Broderson. Devine has never matched up with him. Mantanona is another Sooner that always seems to have crazy matches. It would be interesting to see how that contrasts Devine’s methodical style.

184: Marcus Coleman (#8) vs Darrien Roberts (HM) or Keegan Moore

• Coleman comes into this one on a 10-match win streak. He majored Roberts a couple years ago. He beat Moore 10-5 last season when Moore was at UNI. The veteran will show his offense in this one.

197: Yonger Bastida (#14) vs Jake Woodley (#7) *KEY MATCHUP*

• Bastida takes on OU’s lone All-American from last season. Woodley is another one of the Big 12 hammers wrestling 197. He shut down Bastida when they wrestled last season, winning 12-0. BUT as we all know, Bastida has developed tremendously since then. Both have wrestled Penola of Purdue this season, but only Bastida walked away with a W. The 197 rankings are all over the place depending on where you look, so throw out the numbers next to the names as well.

285: Sam Schuyler (#23) vs Josh Heindselman (HM)

• Heavyweight in the Big 12 seems to be a bunch of guys that could beat each other on any given day. Schuyler is coming off a great win against NDSU. I guess technically he’s the favorite here, but this is a toss-up.

Prediction

Iowa State 24, Oklahoma 9

Look for the Cyclones to string together some gritty matches and make a good dual look like a blowout. I have them favored at 141, 157, 174 and 184. High flying Anthony Mantanona could be the hero here and swing this dual towards OU. The Sooners are favored at 133. That leaves 125, 149, 165, 197 and 285 as toss-ups in my book. There is a realistic path for Iowa State to drop this meet, but that would require a lot of things to not go their way. Tune in for the great bouts up and down the lineup.