Missouri will take on No. 1 Oklahoma State Friday night in Stillwater, Okla. beginning at 7 p.m. (CT).Missouri will take on No. 1 Oklahoma State Friday night in Stillwater, Okla. beginning at 7 p.m. (CT).
Wrestling

Missouri Wrestling Team Travels to Oklahoma

Feb. 3, 2005

Listen Live:MU vs. OSU (Charges Apply)

Back on the road for the fourth time of the season, the 13th ranked Missouri wrestling team (13-3, 0-1) will travel to Oklahoma for a pair of duals beginning with No. 1 Oklahoma State (14-0, 2-0) on Friday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m., in Gallagher-Iba Arena (Stillwater, Okla.) and concluding against the sixth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (12-4, 0-2) in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Feb. 5, at 2 p.m. The dual with OU will be held in Norman High School.

Down 0-1 in the highly competitive Big 12 Conference, MU Head Coach Brian Smith and his team are anxious to return to the mats and bounce back from an upsetting 26-12 loss to No. 6 Nebraska last Saturday night.

The weekend ahead won't be easy for the Tigers as they open against the defending 2004 NCAA Championship Cowboys. Competing at Gallagher-Iba Arena, where crowds get upwards of 3,000 fans, the Tigers will attempt to knock off the No. 1 ranked team in the nation for the second year in a row. Opening the 2003-04 campaign in St. Louis, Missouri was able to pull ahead and secure a 21-17 victory over the Cowboys, becoming the only school in the Conference to defeat OSU last season. Three months later, Missouri made league history by becoming the first Big 12 wrestling program to topple both Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in the same season.

Missouri enters the Friday night dual down 1-29 in the all-time series with the Cowboys. The Tigers will bring seven ranked wrestlers to the mats, while OSU holds nine top-20 grapplers. Seven bouts of the 10-match dual will feature top-20 opponents battling for bragging rights, including the 174 pound match where 2004 National Champion Chris Pendleton and runner-up Ben Askren will meet for the second time of the season and seventh of their careers.

Currently on a two-dual win streak over the Sooners, Missouri will take on an Oklahoma team down 0-2 in the Big 12. The dual will likely be highlighted by matches between No. 2 Askren (MU) and No. 10 E.K. Waldhaus (OU) at 174 pounds and No. 10 Matt Pell (MU) and No. 13 Justin Dyer (OU) at 184 pounds.