Huskers Look to Remain Perfect on the Road

No. 7 Nebraska (12-1, 3-1 Big Ten) vs. Michigan State (3-6, 1-4 Big Ten)
Jenison Field House (5,017)  I  East Lansing, Mich.  I  Friday, Jan. 27, 2012  I  6 p.m.
Series History: NU trails, 3-8-0
Last Meeting: NU lost, 23-18, on Feb. 18, 1998, in Iowa City, Iowa
Video: BTN.com (subscription required)
Live Updates: www.twtter.com/HuskerWrestling

No. 7 Nebraska (12-1, 3-1 Big Ten) vs. Wisconsin (5-7, 0-5 Big Ten)
UW Field House  I  Madison, Wis.  I  Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012  I  1 p.m.
Series History: NU trails, 4-8-2
Last Meeting: NU lost, 22-15, on Jan. 21, 2011 in Madison, Wis.
Video: BTN.com (subscription required)
Live Updates: www.twtter.com/HuskerWrestling

The No. 7 Nebraska wrestling team returns to the mat this weekend for a pair of Big Ten Conference road duals against Michigan State and Wisconsin. The Huskers take on the Spartans for the first time since 1998 on Friday, Jan. 27, at 6 p.m. inside Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Mich., before making the trip to Madison to battle the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, Jan. 29, at 1 p.m. at the UW Field House.

Nebraska has an overall record of 12-1 on the year and is 3-1 in Big Ten Conference matches, having defeated Indiana and Purdue in its last two duals. The Spartans are 3-6 overall, with a 1-4 conference record, while Wisconsin is 5-7 and 0-5 in the Big Ten.

Both matches will be available on BTN.com (subscription required), or fans can get updates throughout the dual on the Husker wrestling Twitter page at www.twitter.com/HuskerWrestling.

The Huskers, who are led by 12th-year head coach Mark Manning, are currently riding a two-dual winning streak and have won all nine road duals they have competed in this season. True freshman James Green leads the Huskers with 23 victories and team-leading 9 major decisions. Green has won 11 consecutive matches, including four of his last six by major decision. The Willingboro, N.J., native sits only four victories away from cracking the top 10 chart in school history for wins in a season by a freshman.

Junior Josh Ihnen has been on a tear as of late, winning his last eight matches to improve his season record to 17-2. Ihnen produced two of his best matches of the year last weekend, defeating Luke Sheridan of Indiana by pin in 44 seconds, marking his first pin of the season and the fastest pin of his career, before beating No. 18 Braden Atwood of Purdue by major decision, 11-2.

Along with Green, fellow true freshman Jake Sueflohn returned to the mat after sitting out against Indiana to defeat Purdue's Jake Lawrence by decision, 4-0. Sueflohn has 16 victories this season to go along with this 10-2 record in dual action.

After this weekend's duals, the Huskers will return to Lincoln for Senior Night, when they will face off against the defending national champion Penn State on Friday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. at the NU Coliseum,

Last Time Out: Huskers Roll Past Boilermakers
Behind a streak of six consecutive victories that included three major decisions, the Nebraska wrestling team cruised past the Purdue Boilermakers, 24-9, on Sunday, Jan. 22 at the NU Coliseum.

After sitting out of the Huskers' previous dual against Indiana, true freshman Jake Sueflohn (141) returned to the mat with a dominant 4-0 decision over Nick Lawrence (PU) to kick the dual off.

For the second consecutive dual, freshmen James Green (157) and Robert Kokesh (165) recorded back-to-back major decisions to boost the Huskers. No. 9 Green used an array of takedowns to win his team-leading ninth major decision over Tommy Churchard (PU), 16-7. Seventh-ranked Kokesh was a force in the top position, amassing seven points in nearfalls to pull away from Kyle Mosier (PU), 11-1.

At 174, No. 20 Tyler Koehn won his second match in a row by taking down Drake Stein (PU) by decision, 11-4. Following Koehn, junior Josh Ihnen (184) won the third match in his last four tries in bonus-point fashion, this time defeating No. 18 Braden Atwood (PU) for his sixth win over a ranked opponent this year. After nearly pinning the nationally ranked wrestler in the first period, Ihnen went on to win comfortably, 11-2.

Senior James Nakashima (197) found himself going to overtime for the third straight time after he was knotted-up with A.J. Kissle (PU) at the end of the regulation, 1-1. After the pair exchanged reversals in the first tiebreaker period, Nakashima was able to earn another reversal in the second tiebreaker to take a 5-3 lead. With 20 second remaining, Kissel was able to escape and earn a technical violation on Nakashima for grabbing his singlet, tying the match at 5-5 and sending it to a second sudden-death period where Nakashima took down Kissel just 14 seconds in to capture the 7-5 victory.

The Huskers' final points of the dual came at heavyweight where senior Tucker Lane bounced back from his loss against Indiana with a 2-0 win over Roger Vukobratovich (PU). No. 8 Lane tallied an escape point in the second period before holding Vukobratovich down the entire final period to collect 1:59 in riding time.

Redshirt freshman Skylar Galloway saw the first varsity action of his career, falling to No. 15 Ivan Lopouchanski (PU), 6-2, at 149 pounds, while Shawn Nagel and Ridge Kiley fell at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively. Nagel couldn't hold onto an early 2-0 lead against Camden Eppert and fell, 5-2. No. 19 Kiley (133) was defeated by No. 9 Cashe' Quiroga (PU), 9-5, to close out the dual.

Scouting the Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State will enter Friday's dual with a 3-6 overall record and a 1-4 mark in the Big Ten Conference. The Spartans have recorded dual wins over Lock Haven, Bucknell and Indiana, but are currently riding a two-dual losing streak after falling to Northwestern and Illinois in their last two competitions.

MSU's lineup features three nationally ranked wrestlers in No. 12 Anthony Jones (157), No. 11 Curran Jacobs (174) and No. 18 Mike McClure (Hwt). Jones has gone 15-5 so far this season and 7-2 in dual matches, while racking up four major decisions. Jacobs leads the Spartans in victories with 19 and has defeated back-to-back ranked wrestlers in No. 11 Lee Munster (Northwestern) and No. 10 Jordan Blanton (Illinois).

The Spartans are coached by Tom Minkel, who is in his 21st season as head coach of the Spartans. Minkel has  154 career dual wins at Michigan State.

Husker History vs. Michigan State
The Huskers and Spartans have faced off a total of 11 times in their histories with the Spartans holding an edge in the all-time series, 8-3. The last time the two schools faced off was in 1998 at the National Duals in Iowa City, Iowa, where the Spartans defeated NU, 23-18.

Scouting the Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin began the season by winning its first five duals, but have lost their last seven to drop its record to 5-7 and 0-5 in the Big Ten Conference. The Badgers lineup will be one of the youngest NU has seen all season with five freshmen taking the mat. Redshirt freshman Frank Cousins (174) leads the young group with an 9-11 overall record.

No. 13 Ben Jordan has been a bright spot for the Wisconsin wrestling team, going 20-5 at 165 pounds. The senior has an 8-2 record in duals this season, with one of those losses coming to No. 5 Paul Gilispie of Hofstra.

The Badgers are coached by Barry Davis, who is in his 18th season as head coach. Davis owns a 183-124-11 career record.

Husker History vs. Wisconsin
The Huskers trail Wisconsin in the all-time series, 4-8-2, and fell to the Badgers in their dual last season by a 22-15 score in Madison, Wis. In 2009, the Huskers defeated the Badgers, 26-17, in Lincoln, Neb.

Nebraska vs. Minnesota to be Aired on Big Ten Network
Nebraska's upcoming dual against the Minnesota Gophers on Sunday, Feb. 5, will be shown on a the Big Ten Network on tape delay. The dual will begin in Minneapolis at Noon (CT) and will be replayed at 5:30 p.m. (CT) the same day. It will mark the second time the Huskers have been featured on the Big Ten Network this season.

Huskers in the Rankings
For the fourth consecutive week, the Huskers will have five wrestlers ranked inside the top 10 of their respective weight classes after the newest rankings were released by InterMat on Jan. 24. To go along with the five top 10 rankings, junior Ridge Kiley is ranked at No. 19.

Ranked Huskers include: No. 5 Jake Sueflohn (141), No. 8 James Green (157), No. 6 Robert Kokesh (165), No. 7 Josh Ihnen (184) and No. 9 Tucker Lane (Hwt).

As a team, the Huskers remained the same in the NWCA Coaches poll this week at No. 7.

Nakashima Going Extra Time
James Nakashima has competed in three straight matches that have gone to extra time, including his last two which have reached the second sudden-victory period. Nakashima has wrestled in five overtime matches this season, going 3-2 in those duals. No other Husker has wrestled in more than two overtimes this season. The senior defeated A.J. Kissel (Purdue) in the second sudden-victory period and defeated Joe Fagiano (Indiana) by riding time after finishing the match tied. Earlier in the season, Nakashima defeated Nick Tenpenny (Navy), 3-1, in sudden victory.

Lanes' Streak Over Ranked Foes Comes to an End
With his loss to Adam Chalfant of Indiana, senior Tucker Lane saw his streak of four consecutive victories over ranked opponents come to an end. The last Husker to win four straight matches over ranked foes was Stephen Dwyer in 2010. Lane's streak surpassed the number of ranked opponents that he defeated last year, which was 3. The Redvale, Colo., native has defeated a total of seven ranked opponents this year and has won 12 out of his last 13 matches.

Lane Four Victories Away from 100-Win Club
Lane is only four wins away from becoming the 20th wrestler in Nebraska history to win 100 matches during his career at Nebraska. Lane is a four-year starter at heavyweight for the Huskers, and has posted at least 23 victories in each of his first three seasons. The three-time NCAA qualifier won 28 matches during his redshirt freshman season, before winning 23 his sophomore year and 27 last season.

The latest Husker to join the 100-win club was two-time NCAA champion Jordan Burroughs, who did so in 2010-11.

Green Looks to Break Top 10 for Freshman Wins
True freshman James Green currently sits four victories away from cracking the top 10 for most victories in a season by a true freshman. Green's 23 victories is good enough for second on the team and leads all varsity starters. Former Husker Justin Ruiz currently sits at No. 10 with a 27-11 record in 2001-02 as a freshman.

Green has won 11 straight matches that have included five wins by major decision and three over ranked foes.

Freshmen Making Mark
The Huskers have received a boost from four freshmen in the middle of the lineup to help propel the team to its 12-1 start. Redshirt freshmen Brandon Wilbourn (149) and Robert Kokesh (165), along with true freshman Jake Sueflohn (141) and James Green (157) have combined to capture 36 dual victories. Green leads the pack with 23 overall victories and has won nine duals by major decision. Kokesh has been nearly perfect this season, only dropping three matches to en route to his 20-3 record and a No. 6 ranking. The Wagner, S.D., native has won 16 out of his 21 matches in bonus-point fashion, with seven pins, one technical fall and eight major decisions. Sueflohn has won 16 matches this season and has a 10-2 dual record, while Wilbourn has won five out of his last seven matches to improve his record to 9-6

Kokesh Earns Big Ten Honor
Redshirt freshman Robert Kokesh became the first Nebraska wrestler to earn Big Ten Wrestler-of-the-Week honors this season, when the conference announced the award on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Kokesh was rewarded for efforts in Nebraska's 19-15 upset of No. 14 Wyoming at the NU Coliseum on Saturday, Dec. 10.

Kokesh extended the NU's lead over Wyoming to seven points with only two matches remaining with his 5-0 decision over No. 3 Shane Onufer at 165 pounds. The win avenged a 6-2 loss that Kokesh suffered to Onufer earlier in the year at the UNK Open.

Manning Wins No. 150 at Nebraska
Head Coach Mark Manning became only the second coach in school history to record 150 dual victories at Nebraska when the Huskers defeated Kent State on Nov. 12. Manning joins former coach Tim Neumann as the only other coach to reach the mark, with each coach doing so in their 12th season.

Manning has averaged over 13 dual victories per season at Nebraska en route to his 161-61-3 record, which is the best clip in school history. For his career, Manning owns a 184-85-5 record after spending three seasons at Northern Iowa.

Manning Named FILA Freestyle Coach of the Year
After helping former Husker Jordan Burroughs become the first American to claim a World Championship since 2006, Nebraska Head Coach Marking Manning was named the international freestyle coach of the year for 2011, announced by FILA, the international wrestling federation, on Nov. 1. Manning was Burroughs' personal coach, as he made a meteoric rise through the international wrestling ranks and won his first World Championship in September.

Manning helped Burroughs capture the gold medal at 163 lbs./74 kg at this year's World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, after already winning the U.S. Open and U.S. Team Trials titles earlier this year. Before his success at the international level, Burroughs became the school's only two-time national champion after capturing the 165-pound national title in 2011 and earning the prestigious Hodge Trophy, given to the nation's most outstanding wrestler, under Manning's tutelage.

Manning has an impressive track record on the international level having been a part of numerous World Team coaching staffs. Along with being a member of the 2011 staff, Manning also helped coach the 2009 team that competed in Denmark and placed seventh and was also part of the staff in 2010. In 2001, Manning was named the Head Coach of the freestyle team, but could not travel with the team after the tournament was moved from New York to Bulgaria following the September 11th attacks because of his collegiate coaching responsibilities. Manning was an assistant coach on the U.S. Olympic Team staff in 1996 and 2000.