No. 24 Wrestling Hosts No. 10 Wisconsin, No. 3 Oklahoma State in Weekend Action

Friday, January 11

7 PM

Rutgers University

University of Wisconsin

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Photo by: Rich Schultz

No. 24 Wrestling Hosts No. 10 Wisconsin, No. 3 Oklahoma State in Weekend Action

Jan 10 | Wrestling

Match Notes Projected Lineups BTNPlus: Wisconsin Single Match Tickets: Wisconsin BTNPlus: Oklahoma State Single Match Tickets: Oklahoma State Radio: WRSU

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 24 Rutgers wrestling hosts a pair of top-10 foes this weekend, as it faces No. 10 Wisconsin on Friday, Jan. 11 (7 p.m.) and No. 3 Oklahoma State on Sunday, Jan. 13 (1 p.m.) at the RAC. Both matches will stream live on BTNPlus, with Lou Brogno and Nick Kosko on the Friday broadcast and Daniel Breslauer and Sean DeDeyn calling Sunday's match. WRSU will also have the radio broadcast for both contests.

Five of RU's next six matches will be held in Piscataway, as the Scarlet Knights also host Michigan State (Jan. 25), No. 11 Nebraska (Feb. 1) and No. 25 Princeton (Feb. 3) during that span.

RANKED SCARLET KNIGHTS (INTERMAT/FLOWRESTLING/THE OPEN MAT)
133: 3/2/3 Nick Suriano (13-0)
149: 2/2/2 Anthony Ashnault (13-0)
157: 15/15/15 John Van Brill (11-7)
184: 12/16/13 Nicholas Gravina (2-0)

WHAT TO KNOW
• In its last time out, Rutgers dropped a tight 22-15 dual at No. 8 Minnesota on Sunday. No. 2 Nick Suriano (133), No. 2 Anthony Ashnault (149), No. 12 Nicholas Gravina (184) and Matthew Correnti (197) all secured individual wins over the Gophers at Maturi Pavilion.
• RU remained No. 24 in the latest NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll, released on Tuesday. As a team, RU is also ranked No. 11 by TrackWrestling, No. 13 by FloWrestling, No. 13/19 by Intermat and No. 13/13 by The Open Mat.
• Five individuals appear in the national rankings for Rutgers. Ashnault is the consensus No. 2 wrestler in the country at 149 pounds, while Suriano is as high as No. 1 nationally at 133 pounds by AWN.
• Gravina and John Van Brill (157) also appear in the national polls, with Van Brill as high as No. 15 (TOM) and Gravina as high as No. 12 (Intermat). Willie Scott is No. 20 at 174 pounds according to Track.
• Ashnault and Suriano have combined for a perfect 26-0 record with 22 wins by bonus points this season, including 10 falls, seven major decisions, four tech falls and a forfeit. In dual action, they have combined for a perfect 16-0 mark.
• With a win on Friday against Wisconsin, Ashnault will move into the top-10 all-time in wins at Rutgers with 105, tying Mike Kwapniewski and Billy Smith for ninth in program history.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN
• The Badgers enter Friday's match ranked No. 10 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll with a 6-1 dual record and 1-1 mark in Big Ten Conference action.
• In its last time out, Wisconsin posted its highest finish in eight years with a fourth-place result at the 2018 Midlands Championships from Dec. 29-30 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Sophomore Evan Wick finished second at 165 pounds.
• The Badgers feature six ranked grapplers according to FloWrestling this season - No. 3 Wick, No. 9 Trent Hillger (HWT), No. 10 Ryan Christensen (174), No. 16 Connor Brown (125), No. 16 Tristan Moran (141) and No. 16 Cole Martin (149).
• Last season, Wisconsin finished with a 7-5 mark in dual action and a 4-5 conference record. The Badgers finished 17th at the 2018 NCAA Championships, where Wick earned bronze at 165 pounds.
• Former SDSU head coach Chris Bono is in his first season at the helm of Wisconsin.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE BADGERS
• In the last meeting between the two schools, the Scarlet Knights collected seven of 10 bouts en route to a 24-12 victory over then No. 18 Wisconsin on Feb. 16, 2018 in Madison. Shane Metzler sparked the lineup with his pin in his first-career varsity match, while Gravina, Van Brill and Richie Lewis all had wins over ranked foes.

SERIES VS. MINNESOTA
• Friday's matchup will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two schools.
• Wisconsin is 3-1 all-time against Rutgers.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE
• Oklahoma State enters Sunday's match ranked No. 3 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll with an unblemished 5-0 mark.
• In their last time out, the Cowboys collected four individual titles at the Southern Scuffle from Jan. 1-2 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Nick Piccininni (125), Daton Fix (133), Kaden Gfeller (149) and Derek White (HWT) all secured top honors at the tournament.
• In its last dual outing, Oklahoma State blanked Northern Colorado, 47-0, on Dec. 16 in Big 12 Conference action. The 47-0 win marked the Cowboys' first shutout win over the Bears since Dec. 2014.
• All 10 Cowboy starters appear in the national rankings, including five wrestlers - No. 3 Derek White (HWT), No. 4 Nick Piccininni (125), No. 4 Daton Fix (133), No. 5 Joe Smith (174), and No. 6 Kaden Gfeller (149) - within the top-10.
• Oklahoma State finished last season with a 13-2 mark and placed 13th at the 2018 NCAA Championships with four All-Americans.
• This will be the first meeting all-time between the two programs.

UP NEXT
Rutgers returns to the road to face No. 4 Iowa on Friday, Jan. 18 at 9 p.m. ET. The match will broadcast live in primetime on BTN.

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