The Big Ten has not been friendly to the NIU wrestling team so far this season.

The Huskies (0-2) hosted 24th-ranked Wisconsin on Saturday and didn’t have enough fire power in the lower weight classes to keep up with the Badgers (3-0) as they lost 26-12.

“We have wrestled two quality programs so far [Minnesota and Wisconsin],” coach Dave Grant said. “These teams have a tendency to exploit your weaknesses, but we are right there. A couple of the matches could have gone either way.”

The Huskies’ 197-pound J.D. Oliva started NIU out on the right foot with a 9-7 overtime victory over Lee Kraemer. This would be the only time NIU would lead all day.

NIU then lost five matches in a row as heavyweight Jack Dennis lost by a major decision (9-0), and 125-pound Jeremy Ryerson was pinned by 13th-ranked Tony Black.

Sam Hiatt lost to Tony’s brother, No. 3 Kevin Black, with a final of 12-5, while 141-pound Jay O’Malley lost with a 16-5 major decision and Oliver Vasquez was beat with a final of 9-7.

Scott Owen got back on track after his loss to Minnesota’s first-ranked 157-pound Luke Becker, as he pinned Chris Borchardt in the first period. The second-ranked 157-pounder now has a 1-1 record on the season.

NIU’s Jeremy Benesh and George Kirgan lost the next two matches with finals of 7-3 and 6-2 respectively. Kirgan lost to the 16th-ranked 174-pounder Brady Reinke.

Ben Heizer, the ninth-ranked wrestler in the 184-pound class, won the next match beating sixth-ranked Ralph DeNisco with a dominating 8-1 decision. Heizer now has a 5-1 record for the Huskies.

“This was a huge win for Ben Heizer,” Grant said. “Usually, when you wrestle someone ranked higher than you, the score tends to be close. The fact that the margin was so wide makes Ben’s win even more impressive.”