The NIU wrestling team (2-4) will travel to Bloomington, Ind., Saturday to face the Hoosiers from Indiana University.

The Huskies will be looking for their first win against a Big Ten team after two unsuccessful tries this season.

The NIU losses have come against the University of Wisconsin (40-9) and the University of Illinois (33-10).

Along with Indiana, the Huskies still have the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Purdue University on the schedule in February.

After wrestling top schools all year, the Huskies should be well prepared for the individual competition that lies ahead later on in the season. The tough schedule allows each wrestler to see where they stand talent-wise.

“Everyone is going to see someone ranked in the nation throughout these dual meets,” commented NIU head coach Phil Rembert.

“Wrestling against the Big Ten will help us prepare for the postseason,” Rembert added. “The Big Ten and Big Eight conferences are consistently successful on a national level.

“We would like to get there by competing against them. Our experience against the Big Ten will certainly help us.”

And Rembert’s Huskies would like nothing better to knock off the Hoosiers and send themselves into next week with an uplifting attitude.

“Indiana is a young team, like we are,” Rembert said. “Now that we have a nearly full lineup, we should be more solid. Before, we had to put guys in at weight classes where they were outsized and we struggled.”

The Huskies are looking for a full lineup as injuries have caused somewhat of a problem for NIU this season. This weekend, Rembert will be counting on the return of Terry Dantzler and James Spillman.

“We’ve come back and recovered pretty well,” said Rembert. “With a full lineup, I think we can go out and beat up on some people.”

It wont be an easy task, especially without ring leader T.C. Dantzler, who is out with a recurring knee injury.

“We’re going to rest T.C., and get him ready, so he can go in there mentally without any problems physically and just really dominate the matches,” Rembert said.