Much like the red-hot UW basketball team, the Badger wrestlers will be heading to the state of Indiana this weekend. On Friday evening the No. 13 ranked wrestling team will make it's first Big Ten Network appearance when they take on the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Ind.
For Indiana, this weekend's match with the Badgers will mark their first conference match, after finishing their non-conference schedule with an 8-2 mark. The Badgers, who lost earlier in the season to conference rival Ohio State, will hope to get back to even in the Big Ten standings and improve upon their 9-2-1 overall record.
Since that loss to Ohio State earlier in the season, the UW grapplers have won five of six matches, with their only setback being a 24-18 loss to Iowa State in Ames, Iowa.
No. 2 ranked senior Craig Henning, fresh off a victory over Oklahoma's Chad Terry, will look to help his teammates get their first Big Ten victory in the 157-pound class, as he is matched up with IU's Brandon Becker.
In the 197-pound class, UW junior and No. 6 ranked Dallas Herbst, who shocked the Sooners' previously undefeated No. 3 ranked wrestler Joel Flaggert last weekend, will also try to keep his momentum going after being named conference co-wrestler of the week.
The Hoosiers, on the other hand, are also riding a winning streak as they disposed of Gardner-Webb, Air Force and the University of Indianapolis in the Hoosier quad last weekend, all in overpowering fashion.
Other likely match-ups include UW senior and No. 18 ranked Collin Cudd and IU's undefeated sophomore Angel Escobedo at 125 pounds, UW junior Zach Tanelli and Hoosier Andrae Hernandez at 133 pounds, UW sophomore and No. 8 ranked Kyle Ruschell and either IU's Scott Kelly or Alex Warren at 141 pounds.
In the heavier classes, Badger sophomore Trevor Brandvold and IU's 11-3 Eric Cameron will grapple at 184 pounds, and finally UW heavyweight Kyle Massey will finish the meeting concluding his match-up with Indiana's Justin Kuhn.
The meet will be the Badgers second straight nationally televised match since last weekend's rumble with Oklahoma was part of the ESPNU Invitational and could be seen on ESPNU.
The first match will begin at 6 p.m. Friday night.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this article.
