University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
#23 South Dakota State
Players Mentioned
No. 15 Gophers Looking To Bounce Back against South Dakota State
11/26/2021 12:36:00 PM | Wrestling
Minnesota will look to become the fifth program in Division-I wrestling to reach 1000 wins on Sunday
MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota (0-1) will be looking to rebound from their season opening loss on Sunday afternoon as they take on the South Dakota State Jackrabbits (1-0) at 1:00 p.m. CT inside Maturi Pavilion. The dual will be broadcasted on subscription-based B1G+, while live stats/updates can be found on TrackWrestling and on Twitter at @GopherWrestling.
A win on Sunday will be Minnesota's 1000th win in program history, as they could become just the fifth Division-I program in collegiate history to surpass the mark, behind Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Oregon State, and Iowa. The dual will also act as the program's Military Appreciation Day.
Tale of the Tape - The Jackrabbits:
South Dakota State is led by former Gopher Damion Hahn, who enters his third season with the program after previously being an assistant for Cornell University under Rob Koll. The Jackrabbits have three-ranked wrestlers in their projected lineup led by No. 7 Clay Carlson at 141 pounds. Carlson was an All-American last season after taking 8th place at the NCAA Tournament, and currently heads into this weekend's contest with a 5-0 record.
The Series with South Dakota State:
Minnesota holds the all-time series against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits with a record of 23-5 in a series that dates back to 1950. Minnesota has won the previous seven meetings over SDSU, which is tied for their longest streak in the series. The Golden Gophers are 9-1 in their last ten meetings with South Dakota State, with their most recent victory coming on December 20, 2019, when they travelled to Brookings, S.D. to earn a 22-10 dual victory.
First Meeting: W, 22-4 (1/30/1950)
Last Meeting: W, 22-10 (12/20/2019)
Longest Win Streak: W7 (Twice; 1/2/1962-12/16/1967 and 1/12/1977-12/20/2019)
Longest Losing Streak: L3 (12/21/1968-12/19/1970)
Current Streak: W7
Last Meeting:
South Dakota State hosted Minnesota for a dual inside Frost Arena back in Dec. 2019, where the Gophers took seven of the ten matches en route to a 22-10 victory. Minnesota's first victory of the dual came from Patrick McKee with a decision win over Danny Vega. The Gophers won five in a row from 141 to 184, as Mitch McKee, Brayton Lee, Carson Brolsma, Bailee O'Reilly, and Devin Skatzka all got decision victories. Heavyweight Gable Steveson closed out the dual with a 22- 10 major decision over Blake Wolters.
Potential Matchups:
This weekend's dual will have a total of ten ranked wrestlers in the FloWrestling polls, with three ranked showdowns.
Patrick McKee could kick off the dual with a rematch of the Bison Open finals against Tanner Jordan. McKee defeated Jordan by major decision in the previous meeting.
Jake Bergeland will look to avenge an early season loss against tough opponent in Clay Carlson. Bergeland dropped a 4-3 decision against Carlson earlier this season after conceding a takedown in the final twenty seconds of the match.
Jared Krattiger could have his second-straight matchup against a ranked opponent versus Cade DeVos at 174 pounds.
Gable Steveson will look to battle A.J. Nevills for the second time in his career at Heavyweight. Steveson defeated Nevills 15-6 at the Cliff Keen Invitational in 2018 while Nevills was still a member of the Fresno State program.
Up Next:
Following this weekend's action, Minnesota will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., to participate in the Cliff Keen Invitational, which is known as one of the premier regular season tournaments in college wrestling. Multiple ranked teams will be in attendance, including Michigan, Ohio State, and Cornell among others.