Bulldogs close out regular season at No. 21 Illinois & Oklahoma

Friday, February 21

Urbana-Champaign, IL

2:00 PM PT

Fresno State

No. 21 Illinois

Photo by: Keith Kountz/Fresno St

Bulldogs close out regular season at No. 21 Illinois & Oklahoma

2/19/2020 10:00:00 AM | Wrestling

Fresno State Wrestling Notes Fresno State-Illinois Lineup Card Fresno State-Oklahoma Lineup Card

By: Travis Blanshan / Assistant Director of Communications

FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State wrestling team wraps up the regular season this weekend traveling to No. 21 Illinois on Friday and Oklahoma on Sunday.

Fresno State (9-9) at No. 21 Illinois (9-4)
Feb. 21, 2020 • 2 P.M. PT • Huff Hall • Champaign, Ill.
Video: FloWrestling
Live Scoring: Trackwrestling
Twitter: @FresnoStateWRES
Series History: Illinois leads 3-0
Last Meeting: Nov. 17, 2017 – L, 33-10 vs. No. 14 Illinois in Fresno, Calif.

Fresno State (9-9, 4-3 B12) at Oklahoma (4-7, 2-6 B12)
Feb. 23, 2020 • 12 P.M. PT • McCasland Field House • Norman, Okla.
Video: Fox Sports Oklahoma (DirectTV ch. 675)
Live Scoring: Trackwrestling
Twitter: @FresnoStateWRES
Series History: Oklahoma leads 19-5
Last Meeting: Feb. 17, 2019 - L, 25-16 vs. No. 22 Oklahoma in Fresno, Calif.

Bulldog Headlines

Fresno State closes out the regular season this weekend traveling to No. 21 Illinois on Friday and Big 12 foe Oklahoma on Sunday.
The 'Dogs, who are 9-9 overall in duals this season, are 4-3 in Big 12 duals.
Fresno State is currently tied for sixth in the Big 12 with its final conference dual at Oklahoma on Sunday.
The Bulldogs ended their dual meet slate at home with a 5-3 mark at the Save Mart Center.
Senior heavyweight Josh Hokit carries an eight-match winning streak into this weekend.
Five Bulldogs found themselves in the second NCAA Coaches' panel rankings/RPI released on Feb. 13 as Josh Hokit was No. 11, DJ Lloren No. 20, Jacob Wright No. 24, and Brandon Martino No. 26 while Adam Kemp was No. 25 in the RPI.

By The Numbers
6 - Number of ranked Bulldog wrestlers as DJ Lloren, Greg Gaxiola, Jacob Wright, Jackson Hemauer, Brandon Martino & Josh Hokit are all nationally-ranked.
4 - The Bulldogs face Illinois for the fourth time in program history on Friday.
20 - Jacob Wright has joined Lloren and Hunter Cruz in leading the 'Dogs with 20 wins apiece.

Fresno State Probable Lineup
125: Jeremy Trinh, RSo. (4-6 overall, 1-2 dual)
133: Lawrence Saenz, RFr. (15-9, 3-3) OR Gary Joint, RSo. (10-12, 6-11)
141: No. 20/23/15/15 DJ Lloren, RJr. (20-4, 10-3)
149: No. -/-/-/29 Greg Gaxiola, RJr. (15-8, 11-5)
157: No. 24/-/-/14 Jacob Wright, RSo. (20-5, 10-3)
165: Adam Kemp, RFr. (12-10, 7-7) OR Ricky Padilla, RSr. (12-10, 4-4)
174: No. -/-/-/32 Jackson Hemauer, RSo. (10-4, 5-2) OR No. 26/19/-/- Brandon Martino, RSo. (10-4, 6-1)
184: Hunter Cruz, RFr. (20-10, 9-5) OR Dominic Kincaid, RSr. (11-9, 1-5)
197: Isaiah Perez, RFr. (9-8, 2-5)
HWT: No. 11/11/11/9 Josh Hokit, Sr. (17-3, 9-1)
- Rankings by NCAA Coaches Panel Ranking (2/13)/FloWrestling/InterMat/Trackwrestling

No. 21 Illinois Probable Lineup
125: No. 21/20/-/19 Justin Cardani, RFr. (14-7 overall)
133: No. 6/7/7/7 Travis Piotrowski, Sr. (22-2)
141: No. 13/15/17/21 Dylan Duncan, RJr. (17-7)
149: Mousa Jodeh, RSr. (3-14)
157: Eric Barone, RSr. (11-11)
165: No. 13/16/12/12 Danny Braunagel, RFr. (19-6)
174: No. 19/23/15/26 Joey Gunther, RSr. (15-6)
184: No. 12/16/15/26 Zac Braunagel, RFr. (17-8)
197: Matt Wroblewski, RSo. (9-13)
285: No. 30/-/-/- Luke Luffman, Fr. (15-7)
- Rankings by NCAA Coaches Panel Ranking (2/13)/FloWrestling/InterMat/Trackwrestling

Oklahoma Probable Lineup
125: Christian Moody, RSr. (6-15)
133: No. 12/15/15/16 Tony Madrigal, So. (18-7)
141: No. 6/7/4/8 Dom Demas, RSo. (22-3)
149: No. 31/-/-/- Jacob Butler, RFr. (12-14)
157: No. 15/22/20/20 Justin Thomas, RJr. (18-8)
165: Elijah Joseph, RFr. (1-6)
174: No. 11/10/12/14 Anthony Mantanona, RSo. (17-6)
184: Darrien Roberts, Fr. (11-10)
197: No. 16/14/15/18 Jake Woodley, RSo. (17-7)
285: Josiah Jones, RFr. (5-15) OR Collin McCoy, RSo. (3-8)
- Rankings by NCAA Coaches Panel Ranking (2/13)/FloWrestling/InterMat/Trackwrestling

Scouting No. 21 Illinois

Illinois leads the all-time series over the Bulldogs, 3-0.
The Fighting Illini are 9-4 in duals this season with a 6-3 mark in Big Ten duals.
Illinois is 5-1 at home with its lone loss coming last Sunday against Purdue falling 18-14.
Seven Illini are in the national coaches' panel rankings released last Thursday led by senior Travis Piotrowski at 133 pounds who checks in No. 6.
No. 21 Justin Cardani (125 lbs.), No. 13 Dylan Duncan (141 lbs.), No. 13 Danny Braunagel (165 lbs.), No. 19 Joey Gunther (174 lbs.), No. 12 Zac Braunagel (184 lbs.) and No. 30 Luke Luffman (Hwt.) also appear in the coaches' panel rankings at their respective weights.

Scouting Oklahoma

Oklahoma leads the all-time series over the 'Dogs, 19-5.
The Sooners are 4-7 in duals and 2-6 in Big 12 action.
OU has Big 12 wins over West Virginia (22-18) and Air Force (24-10).
Oklahoma is 2-3 at home with both its wins at McCasland Field House being over Big 12 foes.
Six Sooners are in the national coaches' panel rankings released last Thursday led by redshirt sophomore Dom Demas at 141 pounds at No. 6.
No. 12 Anthony Madrigal (133 lbs.), No. 31 Jacob Butler (149 lbs.), No. 15 Justin Thomas (157 lbs.), No. 11 Anthony Mantanona (174 lbs.) & No. 16 Jake Woodley (197 lbs.) also appear in the coaches' panel rankings at their respective weights.

'Dogs in the national rankings
141 lbs. DJ Lloren - No. 23 by FloWrestling, No. 15 InterMat & No. 15 by Trackwrestling
149 lbs. Greg Gaxiola - No. 29 by Trackwrestling
157 lbs. Jacob Wright - No. 14 by Trackwrestling
174 lbs. Jackson Hemauer - No. 32 by Trackwrestling
174 lbs. Brandon Martino - No. 19 by FloWrestling
Hwt. Josh Hokit - No. 11 by FloWrestling, No. 11 by InterMat & No. 9 by Trackwrestling

'Dogs in Big 12 action
The 'Dogs are 4-3 in Big 12 duals this season with wins over Northern Colorado (25-15), Utah Valley (24-19), Air Force (19-18) and Wyoming (22-19) while falling to No. 18 Iowa State (34-9), North Dakota State (28-7) and South Dakota State (26-12).

Overall, in three years in the conference, Fresno State is 9-12 in dual meet action in the Big 12 after going 4-4 in 2018-19 and 1-5 in 2017-18. The 'Dogs are 5-5 overall in home Big 12 duals, 4-6 on the road and 0-1 at a neutral site.

Fresno State vs. Big Ten opponents
The 'Dogs will wrestle their seventh dual against a Big Ten opponent since returning to the mat in 2017-18 after facing Illinois and Minnesota two seasons ago and Rutgers and the Golden Gophers last season.

Fresno State battled No. 4 Wisconsin to start the season in San Diego falling 31-8 to the Badgers before its home opener against Rutgers saw the 'Dogs come up short, 23-13 at the Save Mart Center.

Fresno State draws more than 2,500 fans per home dual in 2019-20
The 'Dogs wrapped up their home slate on Feb. 2 with a pair of duals against Air Force & CSU Bakersfield posting a 5-3 mark at home to push their overall record at the Save Mart Center to 10-11 in their three seasons since returning to the mat.

The Bulldog averaged 2,519 fans per dual over its eight home matches for a total of 20,152 fans at the Save Mart Center this season.

Up next
Fresno State returns to the state of Oklahoma in two weeks to compete in the 2020 Big 12 Championship in Tulsa on March 7-8 at the BOK Center.

Pledge for Pins
Pledges for pins is designed to help support the Fresno State Wrestling Program. Proceeds will benefit the Fresno State Wrestling Fund for Excellence along with a portion contributing to the Valley Regional Training Center -- a nonprofit organization that supports Fresno State Wrestling.

It works like this, for example, if you pledge $5 per pin and the team accumulates 40 pins during the season, your pledge will be $200. Throughout the season, pins and pledges will be recorded and a letter will be mailed with your pledge amount and payment information.

Levels of Pledges
Copper - $1-10
Bronze - $11-20
Silver - $21-49
Gold - $50 & Up

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