Huskers Prepare for First Big 12 Dual of the Season

The 13th-ranked Nebraska wrestling team will take to the road this weekend for its first conference dual of the year against the20th-ranked Missouri Tigers on Jan. 31 in Columbia, Mo. The dual will begin at 7 p.m at the Hearnes Center.

Scouting the Opponents

The Tigers (10-5, 1-1) enter this weekend's match after upsetting third-ranked Oklahoma, 25-20 on Jan. 26 in Norman, Okla. Missouri enters the dual against NU having won eight of its last 11 duals.

The Missouri lineup features seven ranked wrestlers according the W.I.N rankings.

#11 J.P. Reese (141) -- Reese enters the match against Nebraska with a 20-8 record. He is second in the conference with 13 pins.

#9 Jeremy Spates (149) -- Spates owns a 16-4 record with five of his wins via fall.

#13 Kenny Burleson (157) -- The leading Tiger in wins with 26. He also leads with team in takedowns and dual victories.

#8 Tyron Woodley (165) -- Woodley is second on the team with 23 wins. He enters the match with four falls on the season.

#4 Scott Baker (184) -- Last years conference runner-up at 197 pounds, Baker has since dropped a weight class and is wresting at 184 pounds. He owns a 6-1 record.

#18 Donte Stone (197) -- Stone's 19 wins is the second most wins in the Big 12 Conference at the 197-pound weight class.

#17 Kevin Herron (HWT) -- The conference leader in falls with 15. Herron enters the match with a 22-6 record overall and a 13-2 dual record. He is the conference leader in wins at heavyweight.

Missouri is coached by Brian Smith who is in his fifth year with the Tigers. Smith owns a record of 50-38-1 at MU and a 52-46-2 record overall in six seasons.

The Series -- NU leads 33-14-3

The 33 wins by NU are the most all-time victories Nebraska has against any opponent. NU was won 12 of the last 15 meetings against the Tigers. Missouri's victory last season against Nebraska was the Tigers' first dual victory in Big 12 history and their first over NU since 1987-88. For a recap of last year's Nebraska-Missouri matchup see page 4.

Ruiz scheduled to make return for Huskers

Sophomore All-American Justin Ruiz is set to return to the Husker lineup against Missouri. It will mark Ruiz's first action since injuring his hamstring on Dec. 6 at the Las Vegas Invitational.

Ruiz has a 4-1 record this season and remains ranked second in the nation at 197-pounds despite being out of action for nearly two months.

The Last Time Out (vs. Wyoming)

The University of Nebraska wrestling team improved its record to 13-4 on the season with a 29-12 victory over Wyoming Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Wyoming jumped on the board first with a victory at 133 pounds. Redshirt freshman Jarred Berger dropped his decision to Tyson Shatto, 8-4. The Huskers then took the lead for good at 141 pounds, when sophomore Matt Murray recorded his second pin of the season over Blake Gunter in a time of 6:41.

At 149 pounds, eighth-ranked Travis Shufelt scored a 10-5 victory over Thad Trujillo, putting NU up 9-3. Nate McMillin scored a last second takedown at 157 pounds to defeat Andrew Shuler, 7-6. Shuler jumped out to a 5-2 lead before McMillin scored two takedowns 30 seconds remaining to steal the win. It was McMillin’s first win since defeating Gabe Webster of Cornell, 5-2, on Jan. 4 at the Lone Star Duals.

The last second heroics for the Huskers continued as 165-pounder Jacob Klein upset 11th-ranked Levi Prevost, 7-6. Trailing 6-5 with fewer than 10 seconds left, Klein scored a takedown with two second left for the victory.

"I knew I had to get a takedown," Klein said. "I wrestled him tough and didn’t give up."

At 174 pounds, sophomore Travis Pascoe major decisioned, Justin Salas, 14-5. Redshirt freshman B.J. Padden broke his three-match losing streak with an impressive 17-8 victory over Sam Wendland at 184 pounds.

Kevin Kessner of Wyoming broke NU’s six-match win steak with a victory over Kyle Gubbels via medical injury default. Wyoming followed the victory at 197 pounds with another win at heavyweight with Brad Steele defeating Mitch Manstedt, 14-7.

Fifth-ranked 125-pounder Jason Powell recorded his first pin since December 28, defeating Bryce Leonhardt in a time of 5:43. It was Powell’s sixth fall of the season.

"Today was a big win for us especially at 157 and 165 pounds" Manning said, "We felt we could have done better but it was a good hard-fought effort."

Shufelt Named Big 12 Wrestler-of-the-Week

Sophomore Travis Shufelt was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for the week of Jan. 6-12. Shufelt went 4-0 at the two-day Virginia Duals. On Jan. 7 he nearly upset third-ranked Jared Lawrence of Minnesota, losing the match 8-6.

Shufelt is the first Husker to capture Big 12 Wrestler of the Week since Bryan Snyder won the award on Jan. 15, 2002.

Shufelt named Most Outstanding Wrestler

Shufelt was also honored for his strong effort at the Virginia Duals, earning Most Outstanding Wrestler honors. Shufelt went a perfect 4-0, defeating Jason Mercado of Brown (15-0), eighth-ranked Jon Masa of Hofstra (by fall), Tony Pedrosa of Illinois (17-2) and of Lehigh Tommy Rohn (15-6).

Huskers Have Another 10-Win Season

With three wins at the Virginia Duals, the NU wrestling raised its season win total to 11. Nebraska has since added two victories to their total. The 13 wins are Mark Manning's most in three seasons at Nebraska. His pervious Nebraska high of 11 victories came in 2000-01. The season also marks the 11th time since 1990-91 that NU has recorded double-digits wins. Nebraska is just two dual victories shy of 15 wins, a mark that has been reached just 10 times in school history.

Huskers Get First Win over Top-Five Opponent Since 98-99

Nebraska's 20-17 upset win over Illinois on Jan. 11 marked the first time since 1998-99 that the Husker wrestling team beat a team ranked in the nation's top-five. In 1998-99, NU defeated fourth-ranked Oklahoma, 18-17, in Norman. The win also was Mark Manning's first win over a top-five ranked opponent while at NU and his 10th win in 27 matches against ranked teams at NU.

The win over Illinois also marked the first time since 2000-01 that NU has posted more than one win over a ranked opponent in a season (NU has defeated, #12 Arizona State, #21 Hofstra and #4 Illinois).

Five of Nebraska's six remaining duals area gainst ranked teams.