Northern Illinois (8-5 2-1 MAC), No. 25 Northern Iowa (3-5-1, 1-0 Western Wrestling Conference) 7 P.M. at the Convocation Center

What makes this meet different?

The Huskies face Northern Iowa in the last home dual meet for NIU’s seniors. It will be the Huskies’ first meet on the main Convocation Center floor.

NIU

Coach’s take

NIU head coach Dave Grant gets to face his alma mater in Northern Iowa this Friday. Grant was an All-American in 1984 for the Panthers.

This match continues a tough stretch for the Huskies, who are facing their second of three consecutive top 25 opponents.

“Our schedule goes in phases, and this is a pretty tough phase.” Grant said. “We hit a pretty hard phase at the beginning of the year and now we’re wrestling quite a few ranked teams again.”

Last game

The Huskies are coming off their first MAC defeat, a 20-16 loss to No. 24 Kent State last Friday. Sophomore Duke Burk, ranked No. 13 in the nation, picked up a major decision while Kalen Knull and Bryan O’Connor were able to each pick up a win.

Key wrestler

Burk, wrestling at 174, has an 18-3 record on the season and has won his last seven matches. In the span, Burk picked up three major decisions, a technical fall and a fall.

Vital stat

Senior Pat Castillo, ranked No. 10 in the nation, leads the country in major decisions with 12.

Freshman T.J. Wunnicke ranks second in the MAC with eight falls and Jesse Linczmaier ranks fourth with seven.

NORTHERN IOWA

Coach’s take

Northern Iowa has wrestled to a tie with NIU the last two years. The two teams fought to a 17-17 stalemate at Cedar Falls, Iowa last season and a 16-16 tie in DeKalb in 2006. UNI head coach Brad Penrith expects this years’ showdown to be an interesting one.

“I expect it to be a competitive meet.” Penrith said. “I think it’s always a competitive meet with the Huskies. They’re always ready to battle.”

Last meet

Northern Iowa is coming off a 33-0 loss to No. 3 Oklahoma State.

“We wrestled extremely well against Oklahoma State.” Penrith said. “They’re just more talented than we are. We battled at every weight class.”

Key wrestler

Junior Moza Fay, wrestling at 165, is ranked No. 10 in the nation and has a 15-6 record. Fay has a career record of 80-24 and qualified for nationals last season.

“He’s a pretty hard-nosed kid” Penrith said. “He’s not a flashy wrestler but he likes to grind it out. That’s what I expect him to do this weekend.”

Vital stat

Both Fay and Iowa sophomore Charlie Ettelson are tied for second in the Western Wrestling Conference with six major decisions.